Intertanko highlights regional threat to shipping across entire Middle East

In an advisory to its members issued at the end of last week, independent tanker owners’ body Intertanko noted that the Arabian Gulf has seen a further cycle of violence with attacks on ships and shore installations. Such incidents highlight the threat which extends across the whole region, from Kuwait and out into the Gulf of Oman, it warned.

Regarding India‘s Directorate General of Maritime Administration responding to the high incidence of attacks affecting India seafarers by directing ship owners, managers and recruitment agencies to avoid deploying Indian seafarers on ships undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders, Intertanko notes that this does not prohibit Indian nationals from sailing on ships passing through the Strait. “However, steps should be documented to ensure that the threat to seafarers is analysed and overt permission is given by the seafarers,” it adds.

Interestingly, Intertanko raised the possibility of the Houthis preparing for attacks on commercial shipping in response to “provocation following the attack on Sanaa airport by Saudi Arabia.” Indeed, since the Intertanko advisory was issued, the Houthis have declared a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia whereby they said they were closing the Bab al-Mandab Strait - the Red Sea's southern gateway - to Saudi vessels. With Saudi having redirected  a large part of its oil exports via pipeline to Yanbu on the Red Sea,  this effectively halts all Saudi eastbound oil traffic.

President Trump has vowed to punish the Houthis should they attack Saudi vessels, thereby raising the prospect of hostilities widening across the region.