Two days after it announced the evacuation of over 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, the International Maritime Organisation says it is pausing operation following an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman.
“I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region,” said Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the IMO in charge of the operation.
The IMO began evacuating vessels from the region in cooperation with member states and industry. In the initial announcement, the IMO said it was working with the governments of Iran, Oman, all other coastal States in the region, and the United States to make the plan work.
Dominguez said the vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework adding that the evacuation plan will be paused “until further clarity is obtained.”
“Today marks the Day of the Seafarer, underlining the importance of ensuring that the continued evacuation of the thousands of seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf can proceed without the risk of them becoming collateral victims in this geopolitical conflict,” he said.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which more than 20 percent of oil and gas trade passes, was perpetually closed throughout the length of the political war between the United States, Israel and Iran, trapping many ships and seafarers in hostile seas.
After the countries signed an agreement last week to pursue a resolution, traffic returned, although slowly. Data from Kpler showed crossings increasing from 32 vessels between June 12 and 14 to 93 vessels between June 19 and 21.
On June 24, Kpler data showed 70 crossings, the highest daily total since March 1, a according to Nikos Pothitakis, Kpler media officer. Before the conflict began, up to 100 commercial ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz every day.
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