Sailors are working on approximately 2,000 vessels, including oil and gas tankers, bulk carriers, cargo ships as well as six tourist cruise liners.
The ships are stranded in the Persian Gulf and unable to pass through the narrow strait due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Iran borders the northern part of the strait and has said it will allow only “non-hostile” ships to pass.
Before the conflict, about 150 ships passed through the waterway each day, but now only four or five do so.
On Monday, two Chinese-flagged cargo ships reportedly set out on a four- to six-hour voyage through the strait and the Gulf of Oman and in safe waters outside the war zone.
attacks on ships
Since the beginning of the conflict a month ago, there have been 19 attacks on ships in the strait, according to the United Nations International Maritime Organization (imo) in London.
Ten sailors have been killed and eight wounded since Israeli-American bombing of Iran began, triggering Iranian attacks in the Gulf.
On Tuesday, a fully loaded oil tanker off the coast of Dubai was possibly attacked by an armed drone.
IMO/Pankaj Gautam
A cargo ship sails on the open sea. (file)
It is unclear why those 19 ships were specifically targeted.
There appear to have been fewer attacks in the past week, amid increased diplomatic steps to resolve the crisis.
sailor safety
The IMO, a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for measures to improve the safety of international shipping, is focused on ensuring the evacuation and safety of 20,000 seafarers.
“There is no precedent in the modern era for so many sailors becoming stranded,” said Damien Chevalier, director of the organization’s maritime safety division.
“The IMO calls on all parties involved in the conflict to reduce attacks so that the sailors can be safely evacuated.”
“They have been working in an active war zone for a month,” Mr Chevalier said. “It is a very scary situation and one can only imagine the psychological stress they are going through.”
The International Transport Workers Federation, the IMO partner representing seafarers, said it had received more than 1,000 emails from crew stranded on ships, expressing concern about ship conditions and calling for them to be repatriated to their home countries.
“It may be possible to relieve those sailors by replacing them with other people because the ships obviously need crew to operate, but the companies running those ships will need to find volunteers,” Mr. Chevalier said.
© NASA
A satellite photo shows the shipping route of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
“The best solution is to allow those ships to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, but that would require a cessation of hostilities,” he said.
safe passage talks
2,000 ships in the Persian Gulf are being supplied with food, water and fuel by companies operating from Saudi Arabia and Oman. Saudi authorities have worked with the IMO to provide the industry with information on how to contact those resupply companies.
Those ships are not required to stay in port, so ships are moving around the gulf looking for safe spots where they can wait out the conflict while following the protocols of the shipping companies that own them.
As the IMO continues talks with multiple negotiators to get the sailors evacuated, IMO’s Damien Chevalier said the organization asked Iran for “clarification on what constitutes a ‘hostile’ ship and whether it could be at risk of attack if it transits the Strait of Hormuz.”
internationally agreed route
This strait is extremely important for the global economy. According to an estimate, 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supply passes through here.
An internationally agreed ship routing system, the Two-Way Ship Traffic Separation Scheme, was adopted by the IMO in 1968 with the agreement of the countries in the region. It maps the safest route through the narrow sea corridor passing close to Oman in the south.
However, some ships in transit have taken a northern route closer to Iran, reportedly so that authorities there can more closely monitor their movements.
What next for sailors?
The IMO’s short-term aim is to ensure the safety of all crew currently stranded in the Persian Gulf, but there are long-term concerns about the future of seafaring.
“If seafarers do not feel safe because of the conflicts currently taking place, it will be difficult to attract the next generation to meet the growing needs,” Mr Chevalier explained.
“Without seafarers there would be no global trade on which the world’s economies depend.”
