Ship Clusters Raise Fears Of Sea Disaster As Missiles, Drones Fly Above

Pockets of off-coast areas in the Gulf have turned into a virtual tinderbox as commercial ships remain huddled in proximity as they wait on either side of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked amid ongoing war with the US and Israel.

A few days after the war broke out last week, Iranian guards allegedly broadcast messages to ships forbidding them from transiting the Strait. Later, Iranian state media reported that the waterway, which handles 20 per cent of global energy flow, was only closed for ships from the US, Israel, Europe and their allies.

Due to confusion in messaging, attacks on ships, and reported refusals by insurance companies to provide coverage, commercial ships remained either docked or stationed in pockets near major ports in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

Data from the ship tracking site MarineTraffic shows a major concentration of oil & gas tankers and cargo vessels near the ports of Muscat and Sohar in Oman, Fujairah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Qatar's Doha, and Dammam port in Saudi Arabia. 

There was also a huge cluster of ships off Kuwait City as of Friday, March 6, according to their positions as recorded through AIS (Automatic Identification System)-based signals and satellites.

Many of these ships are loaded with highly flammable materials like crude oil, LPG gas and other petroleum products as well as general cargo, raising fears that even a single missile strike on a petroleum-laden vessel can trigger a chain of fires that could result in a maritime catastrophe.

Since the war broke out on February 28, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre has recorded at least 10 incidents of drone or missile attacks on ships at ports and off the coast of the UAE, Oman, and Bahrain. In at least two incidents, "unknown projectiles" hit ships while they were passing through the Strait of Hormuz, causing fire. 

It's not clear if the hits on these vessels were intentional or accidental. 

As many as 36 India-flagged vessels were reported stranded in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, as per sources in the Indian government. The majority of them are carrying either crude, LPG or cargo. 

There were around 23,000 Indian seafarers struck on these ships near the Strait of Hormuz, including 1,074 onboard Indian vessels.