Up to 6,000 seafarers stranded in Gulf as Hormuz crisis enters sixth month IMO chief reveals

Thousands of seafarers remain stranded in the Persian Gulf six months after the current conflict in the Middle East began on February 28, with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) warning that maritime security threats are continuing to worsen globally.

The IMO said at least 70 attacks on international shipping have been verified since the conflict began, resulting in the deaths of 19 seafarers.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the situation in the Strait of Hormuz remained unresolved and called for renewed political efforts to restore freedom of navigation through the strategic waterway.

“Six months since the conflict in the Middle East began, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is unresolved.

Thousands of seafarers in the region continue to live and work under conditions of heightened risk and uncertainty.

While some ships and their crews have been able to leave the Persian Gulf, up to 400 ships carrying around 6,000 seafarers have been unable to depart safely since the conflict began.

The impacts of this crisis are grave – both in the short and long term. The disruption of vital supply chains for fuels, fertilizers and other commodities has consequences for communities and economies around the world.

In July, the IMO Council adopted a resolution on the protection of vital shipping lanes, reaffirming that the right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation must not be threatened, impeded, denied, hampered, impaired or suspended. It called for a coordinated and sustainable return to unhindered navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Renewed political will and cooperation is needed to deliver on this commitment.

I call on all Member States and the shipping industry to work together with IMO and the wider United Nations system, to advance practical solutions to restore the freedom of navigation through the Strait.

The deterioration of maritime security around the globe – from the Black Sea to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden – is detrimental to us all. But it is particularly distressing for the thousands of innocent seafarers affected.”

Dominguez warned that the crisis was having consequences well beyond the maritime sector, disrupting vital supply chains for fuel, fertilizers and other commodities and creating risks for economies and communities worldwide.

The IMO chief urged governments and the shipping industry to work with the organization and the wider United Nations system to develop practical measures to restore unrestricted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

By Tamilla Hasanova