About 75 ageing ships hold station off south-west Taiwan, most flagged in six registries
The Coast Guard Administration says it has driven off 240 of them, and 65 of the regulars are high risk under the Tokyo MoU
A cluster of about 75 ships has been holding position a short distance off Taiwan's south-west coast, near Tainan and Kaohsiung, and Taiwanese authorities, including the Coast Guard Administration, have not established what they are there for. Ships arrive, linger, leave and come back, but the size of the group stays roughly constant. A smaller group gathers further offshore, and a separate anchorage off Taiwan's northern tip lies within Taiwan's internal waters. The concentrations have become more pronounced since March 2026.
Most of the ships are cargo vessels or oil and chemical product tankers, and many are old. Of the 75 seen regularly, 65 fall into the Tokyo MoU's high-risk category on age and condition. Most fly the flags of six registries: Cameroon, Comoros, Mongolia, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone. Most are crewed by Chinese seafarers and appear to be owned or managed by companies registered on the mainland. Only a few are formally sanctioned. Most are unladen, and they are neither loading, discharging nor waiting for orders.
Which ships have been identified?
Among the ships identified are the Sierra Leone-flagged product tanker Huixin (IMO 9175133), the Tanzania-flagged product tanker Athena and the Comoros-flagged cargo ship Midas, also known as Magician 66 (IMO 9020637). The cargo ships Long An, under the Tanzanian flag, and Bao Shun, also known as Ada, are on the list, as is the Sierra Leone-flagged Pioneer, also recorded as Win and Shunjia. The cargo ship Chang Shun (IMO 8964056) is without a flag, and Hong Tai 58 flies that of Togo. Several of these ships have traded with North Korea or have been designated by Taiwan as security risks for lingering over internet cables. The Bao Shun was boarded by the coast guard on suspicion of cable tampering.
What are they doing there?
The south-west cluster lies within about 15 miles of three major air bases, at Pingtung, Tainan and Chiayi, and near the Tsoying naval base. Taiwan's armed forces held the Han Kuang exercise in the area in August. The coast guard can board ships anchored close in or within internal waters and has found no regular PLA personnel or military surveillance equipment aboard.
Possible explanations under discussion include damage to undersea cables, which Taiwanese authorities have tied to a small number of the ships, and smuggling. A regional security consultancy believes some ships may belong to mainland organised crime groups moving food such as frozen meat, or pharmaceuticals, into China; Chinese authorities cannot board ships inside Taiwan's internal waters. Some of the ships have also traded illicitly with North Korea. The coast guard says it has driven off 240 of these ships, "but they keep coming back".
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 25 October 2026.
Ships in this story
