Seatrade-Maritime: Ship attacked off Qatar causing fire

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

The UKMTO said the Master of a bulk carrier reported their vessel was struck by a unknown projectile at 03:01 hrs UTC on 10 May while 23 nm northeast of Qatar.  The attack result in a small fire which was successfully extinguished, and no casualties were reported.

Maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said the vessel involved was likely the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Neha which shows on AIS as being at anchor OPL northeast of Qatar.

It would be the second vessel owned by the New Jersey-headquartered shipping company to be hit during the US – Iran war. The tanker Safesea Vishnu was struck during an STS transfer operation in Iraqi water on 12 March.

On 8 May US Central Command (Centcom) said US naval forces disabled two empty Iranian tankers – VLCC Sea Star III and Suezmax Sevda – trying break the US blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman.

“A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran,” Centcom said.

As of 8 May US forces had disabled multiple vessels since the blockade of Iran ports started on 13 April and according to Centcom turned around more than 50 ships.

Despite ongoing attacks on commercial shipping the uneasy ceasefire between US and Iran largely continues to hold. The stand-off leaves the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, however, a small number of vessels are making it through the key waterway.

The Qatar LNG carrier Al Kharaitiyat crossed the Strait on 9 May appearing to take new route through the waterway mandated by Iran running close to Larak Island north of the normal traffic separation scheme based on AIS data from Pole Star Global. 

The LNG tanker then went dark reappearing on AIS on 10 May in the Gulf of Oman and headed to Karachi, Pakistan. It is the first LNG carrier to cross the Strait of Hormuz since the war started on 28 February.