What happens when the US decides to seize an oil ship?

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN

(CNN) — Since early December, the US Coast Guard and other military branches have boarded and taken control of five oil ships that had previously been sanctioned. They were all either accused of being in the process of transporting Venezuelan oil or on their way to take on oil that has been subject to US sanctions since President Donald Trump began a pressure campaign against the leadership of the country during his first term.

On Friday the US boarded its fifth ship, although this time Trump announced that it would be returned to Venezuela to offload oil there. The Olina, previously called the Minerva M, was “on its way back to Venezuela” he wrote on social media, saying that proceeds would be part of an energy deal he is negotiating with the interim government.

The seizure of ships is part of what Trump has termed a “blockade” of sanctioned vessels, a strategy that began before the US military operation that extracted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and brought him to New York where he faces drug trafficking charges.

The other four ships that US troops have boarded remain in US control, with one near the port of Houston and the other three being escorted by US ships.

Here’s the process, according to experts, that the US undertakes when considering seizing a ship, how it takes control of the vessel, and what it does next:

How do US forces typically seize a ship?

A team of elite Coast Guard personnel, along with those from different Pentagon components, is typically responsible for boarding and seizing the oil tankers, according to Aaron Roth, a retired Coast Guard captain who helped set up one of those elite units.

That’s when an interagency process known as the Maritime Operational Threat Response kicks into gear. Established after 9/11 to deal with drugs, piracy and terrorism, the MOTR is how the Pentagon, White House, and departments of Homeland Security (home to the Coast Guard) and Justice, among other agencies, figure out which port the seized vessel will be led to and whether its crew will be taken into custody.

That process can take time. “I’ve been on vessels … where we sit on them for five or six days,” said Roth, who now leads federal security and strategy at the Chertoff Group.

To take control of the five ships as part of the operation related to Venezuela, both Coast Guard and US Navy personnel have been used for boarding ships, along with other military assets and allied country support for operations.

Four of the five ships have not resisted boarding, while the fifth, the Bella 1, was chased across the Atlantic by a Coast Guard cutter before being boarded off of Greenland. The ship changed its name and country of registration before it was boarded by US Navy Seals flown onto the ship by US Army helicopter crews.

The Trump administration has released video from several of the seizure operations showing troops dropping from ropes onto the decks of ships as part of boarding operations.

Where does the ship go after that?

Where the tanker ends up hinges on the jurisdiction of any case the Justice Department has against a tanker and its crew. Over the years, seized boats carrying drugs were taken to Tampa, Florida, Roth said.

But the Trump administration has plans to repurpose the oil aboard the tankers. A logical destination for the tankers is along the Gulf Coast, where the US has much of its oil industry, Roth said.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that the Coast Guard is seeking additional support to repair some of the seized ships before bringing them back to US ports, given those ports have specific safety requirements that the seized ships might not meet.

If the ship has oil, the oil would be impounded and potentially auctioned. That requires offloading the oil to holding tanks. The funds are then managed by the Treasury department.

Once empty the US could auction off the ships. Based on the safety and reliability of the ships the US has seized, there could be a market for them, Roth said. Proceeds from any sale of the tankers would likely go to the Treasury Department’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, he said.

Does the Coast Guard have the capacity for all these seizures?

With roughly 51,000 active-duty military and civilian personnel, the Coast Guard is much smaller than the other branches of the US military. And it has been tasked with seizing tankers on a daily or near-daily basis.

“Capacity can become a challenge,” Roth said. “The Coast Guard is pretty busy right now.”

The Coast Guard got a big injection of cash — $25 billion in additional appropriations — from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this year. That’s roughly twice the Coast Guard’s annual budget in recent years and can be used for new ships and personnel, Roth said.

But other components of the US military are ultimately going to be involved in the seizures because of their complexity and limits on resources.

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