After suspected attacks, ships operating in Gulf region urged to take extreme caution

BERLIN — Governments and maritime agencies are urging an abundance of caution for ships operating in the Persian Gulf region after two oil tankers were damaged today in suspected attacks near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Though details of the suspected attack on the ships in the Gulf of Oman of the coast of Iran are still vague, the incident comes amid growing friction between Washington and Tehran in an area already fraught with tension.

“The shipping industry views this as an escalation of the situation, and we are just about as close to a conflict without there being an actual armed conflict, so the tensions are very high,” says Jakob P. Larsen, the head of maritime security for the shipping association BIMCO, which represents some 60 percent of the world’s merchant fleet, including owners of the two damaged tankers.

The vessels involved have been identified as the MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker owned by Norway-based Frontline, and Kokuka Courageous, managed by a Singapore company.

Norway’s Foreign Ministry says “is concerned about the situation in Oman Bay” and “this type of incident further increases tension in the region.”

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy, put out an alert early Thursday urging “extreme caution” after the incident.

The Strait of Hormuz is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ocean, however, making it one of the world’s most important sea lanes.

— AP