The Eneos Endeavor supertanker conducted a dark transit through the Strait of Hormuz in May. (Akio Kon/Bloomberg)
key takeaways:
- Supertankers have increasingly been involved in recent attacks on commercial shipping during the Iran war, highlighting the challenges of reviving the flow of the region’s oil to the global market. Since the now-defunct peace accord was announced in June,
- These attacks highlight the risks to Persian Gulf oil exports as VLCCs are the primary vessels carrying crude oil in the Middle East and several incidents have occurred in or near Hormuz.
- The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization said on 15 July that ships should continue to avoid the Strait of Hormuz as navigational risks remain high.
Recent attacks on commercial shipping during the Iran war have increasingly involved supertankers, highlighting the challenges of reviving the region’s oil flows to the global market.
Since the now-shelved peace deal was announced in June, five of nine attacks on commercial vessels have been on so-called very large crude cargo ships, the main ship type carrying Middle East oil around the world, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the International Maritime Organization.
Read more: UN maritime chief warns Hormuz too dangerous for ships
Before the peace agreement, nine of the 48 commercial vessels damaged during the war were VLCCs, three of which were involved in carrying Iranian barrels and were decommissioned by the US Navy, according to the IMO’s recap and Bloomberg’s reporting of the events.
It may be that the increased proportion of supertankers attacked reflects efforts by Middle East oil producers to get more cargo through the waterway, giving Tehran an opportunity to target more ships rather than a new strategy of targeting ships. Nevertheless, these incidents highlight the risks of transit for the vessels that typically dominate Persian Gulf barrel exports.
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The IMO says four of the five supertankers were damaged off the coast of Oman, without specifying where. Separate reporting from UK Maritime Trade operations suggests that a number of incidents have occurred in or near Hormuz.
The IMO Secretary General told Bloomberg Radio on July 15 that ships should avoid navigating to Hormuz due to the current level of navigational risk.
