By John F. McCarthy/V.I. Free Press Staff
CHRISTIANSTED — In the pre-dawn darkness of January 20, 2026, the Caribbean Sea became a theater of high-stakes enforcement as U.S. special operations forces seized the M/T Sagitta. The 21-year-old “shadow” tanker, owned by a sanctioned Hong Kong shell company, is the seventh ghost ship to fall in just six weeks under the hammer of Operation Southern Spear.
For residents of the Virgin Islands, the names of these vessels—the Sagitta, the Veronica, the Sophia—have become a regular rhythm in the news cycle. But while the V.I. Free Press and Reuters report the “what” of these seizures, the “why” contains a danger that the Caribbean hasn’t faced since the early ’90s.
The Zombie Armada
In 1995, when Greenpeace activists arrived in St. Croix to warn of oil spills, they were trailing a fleet of mostly modern, insured vessels. Today, the math has changed. The M/T Sagitta is what maritime experts call a “zombie” ship. At 21 years old, it is far past its safe retirement age. It has no valid insurance, its transponders are frequently turned off to hide from GPS, and it operates under “fake” flags of convenience.
The Southern Spear Shield
Currently, we are living under a temporary “military shield.” The presence of the USS Gerald R. Ford and the aggressive interdictions by Joint Task Force Southern Spear have effectively quarantined our waters. But as any veteran of St. Croix knows, the Caribbean is a game of “whack-a-mole.”
The risk isn’t just a leak; it’s a total catastrophe with no one to pay for the cleanup. If a sanctioned ship like the Sagitta hits a reef in the USVI, there is no insurance company to sue. The cost of the global “shekel race” is being offloaded onto our beaches and our people.
Coming in Part II: The Dark Waters Ahead. What happens to the Caribbean when the military shield departs and the “Ghost Fleet” returns to the shadows?
