Smooth Sea 22

Tanker ship involved in deliveries of refined petroleum or related products to the DPRK, including via multiple ship-to-ship transfers. Falsely flagged under the Maldivian ship registry in December 2017. Fraudulently transmitted as the "Hai Zhou 168" (IMO: 8514045. MMSI: 667001397) in November 2020 and March 2021.

The identifiers of this vessel were fraudulently used by the "Subblic" (IMO: 8126082) in 2020 and 2021 to facilitate illicit refined petroleum transfers to the DPRK. The original AIS profile was vacant for the "Subblic" to use while the Hai Zhou 168 passed itself off as yet another vessel, the "Cheng Xin 1" (aka Smooth Sea; IMO: 9870991). Changed its identifiers to the "Hang Xin 8" (IMO: 8514045) in 2019 and later again to update itself as the "newly built" vessel "Cheng Xin 1".

The identifiers of this vessel were fraudulently used by the "Hai Zhou 168" (IMO: 8514045) in January 2019. Both vessels are owned by the same company. The "Smooth Sea 22" is allegedly a newly-built ship but suspected to be reconstructed from the "Smooth Sea28"/"Hai Zhou 168" (IMO: 8514045).