The ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz near Iran’s Larak Island. (Majid Saeedi/Bloomberg)
key takeaways:
- As attacks on merchant shipping escalated, Sinocor Group offered sailors an extra six months’ pay to complete the Hormuz oil voyage.
- The offer highlights increased risks after attacks on 59 commercial ships and the deaths of 17 sailors, while owners and insurers earned higher returns.
- Crew bonuses increased as Hormuz traffic remained disrupted and some sailors refused assignments despite significant financial incentives.
A ship owner is attempting to persuade crews to stop sailing through the Strait of Hormuz by offering them an extra six months’ pay if they are willing to transit the vital oil channel, offering sailors a stark choice between huge financial rewards and the risk of death.
Sinocor Group, the world’s largest owner of supertankers, distributed such a proposal to its sailors for a round trip to pick up oil from Saudi Arabia or Iraq and unload it in the Gulf of Oman. According to the document distributed late last week and seen by Bloomberg, the company offered six months of additional salary if the return trip was made, saying it would take about a month in total.
At least 59 commercial ships have been attacked in and around the Persian Gulf since the war began in late February, killing 17 sailors, according to the UN shipping agency.
The proposals – made ahead of the latest attacks on merchant shipping on July 20 – underline the fundamental stress of transiting the waterway, forcing sailors to potentially miss out on huge rewards or gamble with their own lives.
The highest paid person on most ships is the captain, who has final authority over navigational decisions. According to officials of two shipping companies, they earn up to $15,000 per month on oil tankers.
A junior sailor, known as a rating, might earn about $1,500 a month in normal times, said an official with one of the owners. If they do not want to go into the danger zone they have the right to leave the ship and ask for a change.
Ship owners can earn millions
Shipowners can order millions of dollars to take their ships on voyages in and out of Hormuz, and insurers are also now charging huge premiums for transit. However, crews are taking the greatest personal risks and some are still refusing the additional rewards.
Whether they are willing to make the journey has come under renewed scrutiny after attacks last week killed at least two sailors, while another ship was abandoned on July 20. The proposals were made after those deaths.
Hormuz traffic remains disrupted
The latest maritime risk data shows that Strait of Hormuz crossings remained low with only 30 verified transits between 17 and 19 July and fragmentation in route selection continued, reflecting ongoing uncertainty. While IMO Event Tracker… pic.twitter.com/cPJjRUd7bM
– Kepler (@Kpler) 20 July 2026
“They are being offered huge bonuses by some companies,” according to Captain Pradeep Chawla, president of GlobalMET, an organization that works with the International Maritime Organization to promote seafarer training and education, without specifically referring to the Sinocor proposal. “We’ve heard stories of large numbers of crew members being grounded, but they’ve been able to find people who are willing to go.”
Sinocor has become a major player in Middle Eastern oil shipping after it managed to assemble the world’s largest fleet of supertankers with the support of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company. The company has been important in helping regional producers, particularly the United Arab Emirates, but also Saudi Arabia and Iraq, get their barrels out.
The company did not respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
While pay offers for transiting the Hormuz can vary and two people involved in securing crew for ships passing through the waterway said they were generally seeing lower rates than those offered by Sinocor, they added that there were still significant bonuses on offer. One of them said that some shipping companies are adding up to 60 days’ salary to a 30-day contract.
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In general, trips have compensated for the increase since traffic slowed due to attacks on shipping through Hormuz early last week. Pay also increased during the early stages of the Iran War, when ships inside the Persian Gulf were being regularly attacked.
Visible traffic through the strait has declined in recent days, although there is uncertainty about how much crossing the waterway will continue in the dark due to satellite signals being down.
MSC is ranked 9th in the Transportation Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.
Written by Charles Gorrivan, Alex Longley and Stefan Stapczynski
