More than thirty members of the fleet visible on the NK News vessel tracker changed important vessel identifiers since the start of the year, according to data from Marine Traffic.

The DPRK ships appeared in Marine Traffic records with new Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) numbers, indicating that they have been reflagged, renamed, or changed ownership.

“Ships change their MMSI usually during a change of ownership and/or flag. Though the IMO number usually remains the same,” Demitris Menos, Managing Director at Marine Traffic told NK News.

North Korean shipping companies are notorious for renaming their vessels, changing their