Panama cancels registration of more than a hundred Russian tankers.

The Panamanian authorities plan to exclude 128 vessels from the register that fall under U.S. sanctions. According to Ramon Franco, head of the merchant fleet at the Panama Maritime Authority, 70 tankers have already been excluded, and several dozen more will be removed.

In total, the number of Russian tankers that ended up on the 'black lists' exceeds 270. These vessels transported half of Russia's maritime oil exports - 1.5 million barrels a day, of which 1 million barrels went to China, and 500 thousand to India. The sanctions were imposed by Joe Biden against 183 tankers, traders, and insurance companies.

Panama's decision is a result of political positions and reforms that simplified the process of exclusion from the register of vessels from six months to one month. The losses from refusing to register sanctioned vessels are estimated at 2 million dollars. However, Panama is ready to adhere to the sanctions.

There are more than 8000 vessels in the Panama register that were previously advantageous for obtaining flags. But due to the tightening of sanctions against Russia and Iran, attention is growing towards vessels from these countries. Some vessels have already changed their country of registration, while others go to sea without a flag.