The Gambia Maritime Administration (GMA) has said contrary to reports , the two ‘Gambian flagged’ oil ships involved in an explosion at sea, were not registered under the Gambian flag at the time of the incident.
In a statement yesterday the GMA said the registrations of the ships were cancelled, and they were removed from the Gambian Ship Registry on 10th November, 2025.
“Both vessels were initially registered in breach of the Administration’s standing directive that prohibits the registration of vessels subject to sanctions by the European Union, the United Kingdom, or the United States. The breach resulted from registrations carried out without the required due diligence screening and it was discovered through the Administration’s compliance monitoring,” the GMA said.
It explained that once this compliance violation was identified, the GMA took decisive corrective action and, on the 10th November, 2025, Virat and Kairos, were deregistered along with seventy-two (72) other sanctioned vessels and formally removed from the Gambian Ship Registry.
“Accordingly, at the time of the 28th November 2025 incident, Virat and Kairos were not entitled to fly the Gambian flag. They should not be characterised as Gambian-flagged vessels in relation to the incident”.
The Gambia Maritime Administration further explained that it has undertaken steps to ensure international transparency and compliance including transmitting the updated list of deregistered vessels to all Port State Control authorities as per the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as well as International Maritime Organisation .
It said it has also submitted appropriate notifications to other regional maritime MoUs to ensure that the deregistered vessels are barred from obtaining services within Port State Control jurisdictions.
“The Government of The Gambia remains committed to the highest standards of maritime compliance and transparency. The action taken on 10th November, 2025 reflects this commitment,” the GMA said.
