The investigation was launched by the Financial Guard and customs authorities in the Italian port of Brindisi. The HIZIR REIS ship arrived at the port of Brindisi, Italy, on November 21, 2025 after leaving the Russian port of Novorossiysk on November 16. According to the local Italian press, officials have confirmed "serious inconsistencies, falsifications and changes in on-board documentation regarding stops and loading operations." Several market sources also confirmed that they had heard that the HBI on the ship has documentation of Turkish or Indian origin, which is suspected of being falsified, since Turkey does not have HBI production, and India can only supply local sponge iron, which is not normally transported to remote markets.
The EU had a quota for Russian HBI of 1.14 million tons in 2024 and 651,906 tons in 2025. "When the ship arrived in November, there was still a quota, so shipping from Novorossiysk to the EU was technically not illegal," a market source commented, adding that the main issue should be changing the documentation if the seller wants to sell these materials after the quota ends.
