There was no tanker traffic through the strait of Hormuz on 3 March, the fourth day of fighting between the US, Israel and Iran, due to threats of attacks from Iran and satellite jamming, according to global maritime security partnership Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC).
That total on Tuesday compares to 50 tankers on 28 February, the first day of fighting, and three tankers each on 1 and 2 March, according to the JMIC in a notice shared by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.
Cargo ship traffic dropped to only a single vessel on 3 February from 98 on 28 February, 18 on 1 March and seven on 2 March. The historical daily average for all vessels through the strait is about 138 ships, JMIC said.
The notice, which was published by JMIC at about 12:27pm ET on 4 March, included four vessels in a list of confirmed vessel incidents from the "approximately past 24 hours". The containership Safeen Prestige was the only vessel with damage the JMIC did not describe as "minimal" and the only vessel that was located within the strait of Hormuz at the time of its incident. The Gold Oak dry bulker, anchored near Fujairah, sustained minimal damage. The tanker Libra Trader also sustained minimal damage 10 nautical miles off the coast of UAE.
"US and Israeli-affiliated or flagged vessels are advised to minimize time spent pier-side or at anchor within high-risk zones to reduce vulnerability of targeting," JMIC said. "Maintaining movement and avoiding predictable patterns remains critical for mitigating the risk of targeting strikes or collateral damage."
Vessel tracking data and navigational tools within the region will likely become increasingly unreliable in the days to come with significant Global Navigation Satellite System jamming underway throughout the strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf, according to JMIC.
"Observed impacts include positional offsets, Automatic Identification System anomalies and intermittent signal degradation," JMIC said.
