Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0. A Chinese tanker carrying Russian fuel puts the US blockade to the test

The Chinese tanker Sea Horse, loaded with Russian fuel, is heading towards Cuba, despite US President Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs on any country that supports the country with fuel supplies, according to an analysis by the maritime intelligence company Windward.

The Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse is currently in the Sargasso Sea and should reach the shores of Cuba in early March. The tanker carries almost 200,000. barrels of Russian diesel oilwhich was loaded onto it in the open waters of the Mediterranean Sea near Cyprus. This is according to data from Kpler, a maritime intelligence company.

Cuba desperately needs fuelwhich is missing for cooking, transport and energy production. Due to power cuts, the lighting level on the island has dropped by 50%, as evidenced by satellite photos.

Cuba, which produces negligible amounts of crude oil, is highly dependent on imports of fuel and crude oil. Its situation worsened after the capture in early January of Venezuelan leader and long-time ally of Havana, Nicolas Maduro. The United States then ordered the interim government in Caracas to suspend oil deliveries to the communist-controlled Caribbean island. President Trump also threatened tariffs on any country supplying fuel to Cuba. These threats also caused Mexico, the largest supplier of fuel to Cuba next to Venezuela, to suspend its shipment.

It is not certain whether Sea Horse will be able to deliver its cargo to its destination, because it will first have to break the blockade of the United States naval forces. So far, it has stopped at least nine ships involved in the illegal transport of sanctioned oil.

According to Bloomberg, Cuba, which did not receive crude oil in January for the first time in a decade, will run out of oil by the end of March. (PAP)

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