Thousands of ships’ crews and hundreds of vessels are trapped in the Persian Gulf as the war in Iran spread to the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.
Three cargo vessels in the region were hit overnight by projectiles of unknown origin, setting one vessel ablaze, according to a British security monitor.
More than 10,000 merchant mariners and hundreds of ships are trapped in the Gulf, shipping executives meeting in Stamford, Conn., told FreightWaves, with most operators unwilling to risk the safety of crews in a potentially deadly crossing of the strait.
The fire aboard one unidentified ship north of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz had been extinguished and the crew was evacuating, according to an alert Wednesday from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. A bulk carrier and container vessel reported being hit by suspected projectiles, the UKMTO said. There were no injuries in the incidents while damage investigations were underway.
The executives said reports of ships turning off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking and forming convoys to exit the region were false.
“There have been no convoys,” said Tim Wilkins, managing director of Oslo-based tanker trade group Intertanko. “There have been some individual vessels that have turned off AIS and transited at night, but no convoys.”
The executives said the trapped ships include hundreds of dry bulk vessels, as well as crude oil and natural gas tankers, and container vessels. They added that a lack of accurate information coming out of the region and intentional fake news disseminated on social media is complicating efforts to manage safe vessel operations.
The meeting was told that the war has shut down bunker operations, or vessel fueling, at Fujairah, one of the United Arab Emirates on the Gulf of Oman and the world’s third-busiest bunker center.
Eight maritime workers have died in attacks since the war began, while seven U.S. military personnel have perished.
The war marks the first time the strait has been closed to global shipping. Iran blocked Iraqi ships during their war in the 1980s.
United States Central Command said its forces overnight eliminated 16 Iranian vessels laying mines in the strait area. At the same time, Iran launched drone and missile attacks on Gulf land targets, while Tehran threatened to attack banking centers in Dubai and elsewhere in the region.
There have been 10 suspected attacks on merchant shipping in the region since the United States and Israel attacked Iran Feb. 28, according to the UKMTO.
Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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