A vessel flying the Chinese flag – the Huitong 78 – that has delivered jet fuel to Myanmar at least eight times since sanctions were imposed on the junta’s access to the fuel early last year will arrive at Yangon port at noon tomorrow (Thursday) for another delivery, ship tracking data shows.
The Huitong 78 delivered jet fuel to Yangon six times last year and at least two times so far this year, research by Amnesty International found. On all eight occasions the fuel had been in storage in Vietnam before being delivered in Yangon with the help of trading companies in Singapore.
Earlier this year, the same tanker made a delivery from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of what was likely jet fuel, the rights group said.
The Huitong 78 is arriving in Yangon on Thursday from the UAE port of Ajam after previously visiting ports in Vietnam (Cai Mep) and Singapore, according to websites that track ship movements.
Rights groups say the jet fuel it delivers to Yangon is used to power fighter jets and attack helicopters the junta unleashes on civilians, with Monday’s report by Amnesty noting that these attacks rose fivefold in the first half of this year.
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty, said on Monday that the “Myanmar military is relying on the very same Chinese vessel and Vietnamese companies” that it identified in January to evade sanctions.
In January’s report, Amnesty said that the junta was evading jet-fuel sanctions by changing the way it imports the fuel. It was using new routes and relying on storage to hide the origin of the jet fuel it imported. The report uncovered these routes, the ships used for transport and the storage facilities used to obscure the source of jet fuel imported to Myanmar.
Sanctions were imposed on jet fuel importers in Myanmar early last year by the United States, Britain, the European Union, Canada and Switzerland. The sanctions target companies and individuals. In August last year, the US Treasury broadened its sanctions to allow them “to be imposed on any foreign individual or entity determined to operate in the jet fuel sector of the Burmese economy.”
However, almost one year later, the US Treasury has not used its power to sanction and foreign companies delivering jet fuel to Myanmar.
The Huitong 78 is owned by Shanghai Huitong Shipping Co Ltd, a private company based in Shanghai, according to websites that track its movements. The company has not replied to requests for comment.
The storage facility in Vietnam used to obscure the source of the jet fuel Myanmar imports, Cai Mep Petroleum terminal, is owned by Vietnamese company Hai Linh Co Ltd, according to trading and customs data gathered by Amnesty.
The rights group has identified Singaporean firms involved in the trades: BB Energy (Asia) Pte Ltd last year and Sahara Energy International Pte Ltd and CNOOC Trading (Singapore) Pte Ltd this year.
Callamard put the junta’s ability to continue sourcing jet fuel down to “a raw display of both the sheer impunity with which the Myanmar military is operating, and the utter complicity of the states responsible, including Vietnam, China and Singapore.”
On Monday Justice for Myanmar called on the US Treasury Department to use its sanctions power to deter international companies from participating in the junta’s “murderous supply chain”.
The US Treasury has not used its broad power to sanction companies and individuals involved in the junta’s jet fuel supply chain since August 23 last year, when it announced this power.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Justice for Myanmar said that the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, “has the tools to sanction the junta’s jet fuel supply chain but hasn’t”.
“We want to see them take active steps, including against vessels proven to have transported jet fuel to Myanmar,” the research and advocacy group said, adding that Washington “has a track record of sanctioning vessels, not just companies and individuals”.
As the US waits to exercise its power, the Huitong 78 is poised to deliver another deadly cargo to Yangon.
