Sanctioned Russian ro-ro Lady Mariia has spent 35 days at anchor off Port Said
The MG-Flot ship, hit by drones off Crete in September, sits just outside Egyptian waters at the northern end of the Suez Canal
The Russian-flagged ro-ro cargo ship Lady Mariia has been at anchor off Port Said for 35 days, just outside Egyptian territorial waters at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal, with her AIS broadcasting her position throughout.
The 2000-built ship is owned by MG-Flot, which the US Treasury sanctioned in June 2021, and is chartered exclusively for the carriage of Russian military cargo. Lady Mariia herself was sanctioned in May 2022 for handling stolen Ukrainian material and carrying arms to Syria. MG-Flot is also active in arms shipments between Iran and Russia across the Caspian Sea.
How did she get there?
She passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 29 August, possibly in company with the Iranian cargo ship Shabdis, and made a cargo stop at Oran in Algeria. On 6 September, sailing east between southwest Crete and the Libyan coast, she was attacked by hexacopter drones that dropped 12 munitions. She suffered no serious damage. The attack resembled one on the Omani-flagged tanker Qendil last December, and suspicion has fallen on a Ukrainian intelligence unit reportedly based in Misrata, Libya. She reached the Port Said anchorage and anchored late on 8 September.
What does the wait cost?
If she were not sanctioned, a ship of her type could earn about $15,000 a day, so the lost revenue already runs to about half a million dollars. Anchorage dues at Port Said after the initial free period are $2,155 a day, bringing the estimated cost of her stay to $514,650 a month. Her reason for remaining there has not been disclosed.
Her MG-Flot sister ship Lady D, also sanctioned and also used to carry arms, left the anchorage off Famagusta in northern Cyprus on 26 September after a stay of about three months. Russia's Mediterranean naval flotilla has withdrawn from its base at Tartus in Syria, which it now uses only for visits, and for weeks at a time the Russian Navy has had no ship in the Mediterranean.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 14 October 2026.
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