The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has called on governments to halt attacks on merchant shipping as conflicts increasingly spill into some of the world’s most vital trade routes.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez issued the warning on Wednesday as the organisation reported 80 verified attacks on international shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the Middle East conflict began on 28 February. At least 22 seafarers have been killed and many others injured.
“We are reaching a point where these conflicts are being used as a pretext to attack merchant vessels and innocent seafarers,” Dominguez told delegates at the IMO’s Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers in London. “Do not use these conflicts to attack innocent seafarers.”
The warning extends well beyond the Strait of Hormuz. In the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, dozens of fatalities have reportedly resulted from attacks on international shipping in recent months, although the IMO said precise casualty figures remain difficult to verify.
Violence has also returned to the Red Sea, where four seafarers were killed in the latest Houthi attack on a merchant vessel on 11 August.
Dominguez stressed that attacks on merchant shipping across the various conflicts cannot be attributed to a single actor.
“In the Strait of Hormuz, it is not only one country attacking merchant vessels,” he said. “In the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, it is not only one country attacking merchant vessels.”
The latest figures highlight how rapidly conditions have deteriorated around Hormuz.
On 28 August, six months into the crisis, the IMO said it had verified 70 attacks and 19 seafarer deaths. By 15 September, the figures had risen to 80 confirmed incidents and at least 22 deaths.
Recent incidents include the 12 September attack on the El Gaia in the Strait of Hormuz, which damaged the vessel and left two seafarers missing.
The Hercules Star was damaged in an attack on 9 September that killed one seafarer, while two crew members were killed aboard the Sidr on 31 August.
The security crisis has also left a significant portion of the merchant fleet effectively trapped in the Persian Gulf.
IMO said in late August that as many as 400 ships carrying about 6,000 seafarers had been unable to safely leave the region since the conflict began.
In July, the IMO Council reaffirmed that transit passage through straits used for international navigation must not be threatened, impeded or suspended.
It called for a coordinated return to unhindered navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
But the wider maritime security situation has continued to deteriorate.
Dominguez acknowledged that resolving the underlying conflicts falls outside the IMO’s mandate, but urged member states to take the consequences for international shipping to their governments and relevant United Nations bodies.