AIS data has revealed a shadow fleet VLCC’s unorthodox journey towards Venezuela, taking the scenic route overland.

TankerTrackers posted an image of the unnamed ship’s path across the southern Atlantic, heading west after passing around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

The vessel then appears to reach land in southern Brazil, before heading north-west across the country, then through Suriname, before re-emerging into the sea off Guyana.