Please oh please Dr. Humbugge don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us the names of those terrible countries so we can trash’em on this forum!
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I had at one stage two visas to visit the USA in the same passport. A D2 visa for ships crew and another to visit the USA as a tourist. I looked different in all three photos.
Canada demanded a reason for going ashore and I instructed all crew to put down a haircut . The gate at Frazer River container terminal entry and exit was controlled by a swipe card. We were alongside waiting for labour and no one could leave the ship as the gate wasn’t manned.
I thumbs up’ed you for the first sentence in your 2nd paragraph, not for the rest of your comment. Something tells me you’re not the only one. 
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I’m sure you can make your own list of such countries based on own experience, or from unbiased news that is available to those who seeks it.
The only country I had trouble getting into was the US during the MacCarthy period. Every foreigner was a potential communist and was treated as such. I got finger printed and had to undergo a lengthy interview, Why was I visiting the US? Well, as a crew member the ship happened to bring me here. Why did I want to go ashore. Because I was 18 and wanted to see New York. Any particular place? Yes, Times Square and Broadway. Why these places? Just curiosity, I had heard so much about it. That was not enough reason. I thought quickly and then said to visit family in Ronkonkoma, Long Island. I had family living there but had no intention visiting them. And that, after noting the family name and address, finally seemed to satisfy him and I got my shore pass duly stamped and signed. This first experience was so intimidating and humiliating that it left me with a bitter aftertaste that still lingers. Then a foe and now according to the Great Helmsman as a European again a foe.
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A game of chicken being played by governments while seafarers are stuck on board a ship with nowhere to go:
Confusion all around. The AIS reports as destination now Iskenderun, Turkey (TR ISK). Iskenderun is very close to the Syrian border.
I remember Malta, when at the offshore base/container port at first pass you couldnt go out the front gate but the hole in the fence over near the beach was not only open but security was there to check who came and went.
Being Ozzie I could come and go at will
If you were in town it was easy to come and go
Malta reminds me of this event which was kept secret till this day
Since August 29, at 1100Z, the famous ‘ Adrian Darya 1’ is crisscrossing at >7 knots West of Cyprus; without entering the national waters of Cyprus or Turkey.
Another Iranian tanker (160,000 t deadweight), ‘Silvia 1’, came up the Red Sea, left Port Said on August 28, 0650Z, and proceeded to the West of Cyprus. I ignore if she was loaded or not, the draft indicated on AIS being a manual input by the crew.
Since August 29, at 0647Z, she is an ‘AIS ghost ship’, invisible; last known position about 100 NM South of the westernmost point of Cyprus island
My question:
How would huge tankers exchange their cargo offshore, with waves of now some 1.3 meters?
Clinging together, with huge fenders, at about 1 knot of speed?
Or is it done otherwise?
This is one way but it requires quite some hardware, for instance derricks, ample hoses and the steering has to be very, very precise. Very large fenders might be a solution. You could make a kind of permanent lee by steaming slowly in circles.
You also could do it, my phantasy, with a prepared buoy if you also bring along enough lengthes of hose which the other vessel must bring along. One hose from the Adrian Darya 1 to the buoy and the other from the buoy to the other ship. Like a single point mooring system. It would help if both ships and the buoy are anchored but then you probably are in coastal waters of some country.
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The kind of transfer shown in your photo are typically done with MSC CIVMARS and Navy personnel. There is considerable specialized equipment on the ships involved and the crews are trained and must be qualified in these fairly complex operations, often transferring to 2 ships simultaneously as in this photo:
In the 70’s I did a couple of trips from Nigeria with a cargo of crude to the GOM off Sabine Pass but about 60 miles off . We offloaded to tankers of about 80,000 to 100,000 tonnes. The off take tankers had about three or four sets of davits either side for the Yokohama fenders and they came alongside while we made slight headway.
I’ve seen VLCC’s off LA so I think that they are still doing it there.
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I’ve never participated in civilian transfer operations so I don’t know how they do it but since lightering is a thing, they are able to do so.
They don’t have miitary unrep gear so I assume they do so either while stationary or at slow speeds using Yokohama fenders.
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The Greek tanker Kirki lost its bow off Western Australia. It was towed stern first and under tow an Indian master brought his tanker alongside and the cargo was safely transferred.https://www.amsa.gov.au/marine-environment/incidents-and-exercises/kirki-21-july-1991
This is an in-depth analysis of that event:
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John Clark has sadly passed on, a New Zealand comedian who provided great enjoyment in this part of the world.
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As well as in this part of the world for an expat if you know where to look.
Still waiting for a smaller tanker to transship part cargo:
You also forgot one very important point. They dump fuel/oil into the water all the time, but the rules don’t apply to them. One drop, and us mere mortals (civilians) go to jail.
I heard that destroyers and other small ships use fuel tanks as ballast tanks…
Not sure where “off LA” you mean but we used to offload Alaskan crude at the underwater pipelines at El Segundo.