That vessel, and its more than 40 sister ships, are far more difficult to track when they go off the grid. They were owned until April by a subsidiary of Sinochem, a state-owned company in China that is one of the world’s biggest chemical manufacturers. Sinochem has extensive business ties in the United States. In 2013, a United States subsidiary of Sinochem bought a 40 percent stake in a Texas shale deposit for $1.7 billion. A person answering the phone at Junzheng’s investor relations office was not familiar with the newly acquired shipping business.

Source: International New York Times July 02, 2019 09:00 UTC