Three More Tanker Attacks Surface in Delayed Hormuz Reports

Three more attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have surfaced through delayed reports from UK Maritime Trade Operations, adding to growing uncertainty over how quickly incidents in the water are making it into the public record.

UKMTO issued three separate warnings Wednesday — 144-26, 145-26 and 146-26 — covering incidents reported on Sept. 29 but not published until Sept. 30.

All three were classified as attacks and attributed to verified sources.

In the first case, UKMTO said a crude oil tanker was struck on its port side by an unknown projectile.

A second warning said a tanker transiting inbound through the strait had also been hit by an unknown projectile.

The third provided even fewer details, saying only that a tanker had been struck.

UKMTO did not identify the vessels or provide information on damage, casualties or pollution. The time of each incident was listed as “TBC.”

The three reports come a day after gCaptain examined the growing information gap around attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, where some incidents have only become public hours or days after they occurred.

That report followed another UKMTO warning involving a vessel struck by a suspected projectile on Sept. 28. The impact caused a fire, though the crew was reported safe and the vessel remained underway.

Unlike the three new warnings, that incident was initially classified by UKMTO as “suspicious activity.”

The latest reports bring the number of recently disclosed time-late incidents to at least four and suggest the public picture of shipping security in the strait remains incomplete.

UKMTO operates a voluntary reporting system for merchant shipping across the region. Masters and operators are encouraged to report security incidents, but the system depends on information being passed along by vessels, companies or other authorities.

The issue has become more important as competing claims emerge over the number of ships being targeted.

Iran has said its forces struck multiple vessels in recent days, while publicly available incident reports have shown a smaller number. The new UKMTO warnings do not identify who fired the projectiles and do not confirm Iran’s broader claims.

What they do show is that more incidents are being added to the record after the fact. For shipowners, crews and insurers trying to judge conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, that lag makes an already difficult security picture even harder to assess.

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