HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) —A tanker carrying Russian diesel is set to arrive in crisis-hit Cuba “in several days” after using deceptive manoeuvres to reach the island, which is under a United States fuel blockade, according to a maritime tracker.

“If or when the tanker arrives, this will be the first confirmed arrival of a refined products cargo at the island since early January,” maritime intelligence firm Windward reported online.

The firm had reported earlier that the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse had “likely” discharged around 190,000 barrels of Russian diesel in Cuba in early March, but it updated the webpage on Thursday to say it had not yet arrived in the island.

If confirmed, this would be the first arrival of a refined petroleum product to Cuba since January, according to Windward, which did not say in which port it might have docked.

A second ship, the sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, is also reportedly on its way to Cuba carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil, maritime analytics firm Kpler said on Wednesday.

Cuba has been mired in an economic crisis and blackouts exacerbated by the sudden suspension of oil supplies from Venezuela in January after the United States ousted President Nicolas Maduro, a Cuba ally.

The island nation of 9.6 million was already battling the effects of the US fuel blockade against the island. The country was plunged in a nationwide blackout earlier this week.

The Sea Horse, which is not under sanctions, was loaded with diesel from another ship off Cyprus in early February, according to Windward.

It signalled its next destination as Havana before switching it to “’Gibraltar for orders’ due to increased scrutiny of inbound cargoes to Cuba,” the firm said.

After sailing across the Atlantic in mid-to-late February, the Sea Horse stopped around 1,300 nautical miles from Cuban waters and began drifting at less than one knot, signalling it was “not under command”.

Windward said the ship also engaged in other “deceptive shipping practices,” including switching off its automatic identification systems (AIS) — a GPS-type signal that commercial ships use to avoid collisions.

It has no Western insurance, “another indicator it is involved in sanctions circumvention,” according to Windward.

A man walks past a hotel remaining lit by its own system during a blackout in Havana on March 16, 2026. Cuba suffered a widespread power cut on March 16, according to the national electricity company, against the backdrop of a severe crisis on the island caused by the US energy blockade. (Photo: AFP)