Officials also said they have identified the vessel as the “the Gulfstream” – citing divers that spotted the name on the side of the craft that reportedly caused the spill, without elaborating further.
The government said it will continue researching the vessel’s owner and operator, and whether the leak came from its bunker deposit. Reuters found at least three ships with similar names, and all their transponders were offline, LSEG vessel monitoring data showed.
What goes south will come back north in some form. (at least in this case)
But the info on the tug and barge is still confusing:
The tug with IMO 7505994 appears to be either the Solo Creed (as mentioned and appears logical from last reported position):
Or the Ranger (as shown on X):
But there appears to be more tugs with the same IMO no. Here is one more:
PS> How is that possible? The IMO No. is supposed to be unique to a vessel and not change with ownership/registration.
The IMO no. given for tanker barge Gulfstram 7734143 brings up this tug:
What they all have in common is the year of build; 1976 (although not the same building yard).
The tugboat behind an ongoing oil spill off the Tobago coast, which has spiralled into a regional environmental crisis, belonged to a director at a network of Panamanian companies with a history of transporting oil from Venezuela, according to documents unearthed by Bellingcat and the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian that have been validated by the Zanzibar Maritime Authority.
