Transportation and logistics services

Scammers Try Out "Safe Passage" Extortion Scheme for Strait of Hormuz

24.06.2025

Calamities are a golden opportunity for unscrupulous scammers, who often try to trick unwitting survivors out of their money by pretending to be a government agency. It appears that the same scam has been tried in shipping, according to EOS Risk Group's Martin Kelly: one enterprising fraud group has been trying to extort vessels into paying for "safe passage" through the Strait of Hormuz. Entirely fake, this solicitation promised the shipowner that the vessel would be safe from Iranian attack if the money was paid - and that the ship would be hit if not.

"Several ships reported receiving suspicious emails from an entity claiming to be a subsidiary of Iran and the Houthis, demanding payment of 100,000USD for both inbound and outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz," said Kelly in a social media post. "The email threatens if the vessel attempts to transit and the payment is not paid – then the ship will be ‘blown up’."

Kelly said that the email had clear signs of an unsophisticated fraud, including obvious misspellings and a lack of any organizational signature. It also came from an email server associated with scam accounts.

"We disallow any transit from this straight untill we permit. [sic] Only after payment of transit fees and our permission you can transit," the notice read. "No negotiations, you got 2 hours for payment of 100,000 USD as both inbound and outbound transit. If you won't pay just turn around and go on opposite direction. If not, and resist to pass without out permission, serious armed actions will be taken. We will blow you up and se t [sic] an example for rest of the shipping companies."

It is unknown whether any operators took the bait before regional tensions calmed down early Tuesday (local time). But now that Iran, the U.S. and Israel have reported a ceasefire deal, this scam is unlikely to succeed going forward.

How Will the Israel-Iran Conflict Affect the Tanker Market?

16.06.2025

In the early hours of Friday, June 13, Israel launched several waves of airstrikes on Iran, targeting command-and-control centers, ballistic-missile bases and air-defense batteries as well as nuclear installations. The attacks also killed several Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. Israel indicated that this is only the beginning of a campaign that can last for days or even weeks. The question is, what will happen next? How will Iran respond? Will the United States get involved? What will be the impact on the oil and tanker markets? We don’t have any answers, but we can discuss a few scenarios and look back at what happened during previous conflicts in the region.

In an immediate response, Iran launched a drone attack on Israel, but that was largely ineffective. Most of them were shot down and no significant damage was reported. Since then, Iran has started firing ballistic missiles towards Israel. Analysts do expect a forceful response from Tehran, not least because the regime has to save face with their domestic population. However, their options are limited. The Israeli attacks have reduced Iran’s ability to reach Israel and inflict significant damage. The capabilities of Iran’s proxies in the region, Hamas, Hezbollah, the militias in Iraq and the Houthi’s have been diminished and the Assad regime in Syria has been toppled.

Iran does have options to retaliate. They could try to close the Strait of Hormuz or disrupt shipping at this chokepoint through which more than 20% of global oil supplies are shipped. They could attack oil installations in neighboring countries or target U.S. military bases in the region.

However, all of these potential actions carry significant risks. Closing the Strait of Hormuz or attacking energy infrastructure in the region will spike energy prices, turn all their neighbors into adversaries and more likely than not draw the U.S. military, which has a large presence in the region, into the conflict. Closing the Straits of Hormuz may also hamper Iran’s own export capabilities and give the Israelis and/or Americans an incentive to attack their energy infrastructure (refineries, pipelines, export terminals, etc.). Losing the income from energy exports would quickly exhaust Iran’s resources and ability to fight back.

In the immediate aftermath of the Israeli attacks, both oil prices and tanker rates moved up. This was to be expected and is a normal reaction to a spike in geopolitical tensions and an increased risk of significant disruptions to global energy supplies. Where oil prices will go over the next few days and weeks, will depend on whether there will be actual disruptions to oil supply. Overall, the global oil markets are well supplied, and inventories are at healthy levels worldwide.

Iranian supplies are increasingly at risk, however. Even before Israel’s attack, most oil market forecasts already assumed a decline in Iranian production over the coming months, leading to a decrease in Iranian exports of around 400-500 kb/d. This figure will likely increase if the conflict escalates. Chinese independent refiners, which buy almost all Iran’s oil, will need to look for alternative sources of crude, and they could try to buy more discounted crude from Russia or look for alternative barrels in the Middle East.

Tanker rates also rose after the attacks, in particular for VLCCs, the main vessel class for Arabian Gulf exports. Similar to the reaction of oil prices, this is a normal development under the circumstances. Rates for the benchmark Arabian Gulf (AG)-East VLCC route increased from WS43 to W55. However, while the increase is significant in percentage terms, the tanker market remains in the summer doldrums. Further rate increases are possible over the next few days, depending on how the conflict evolves, but it is also possible that the market weakens again after the weekend. In previous conflicts, charterers sometimes panicked and, in an attempt to access additional cargoes, fixing activity would rise dramatically. At the same time, shipowners would become increasingly reluctant to enter high risk areas such as the Arabian Gulf. This combination of factors would push tanker rates much higher very quickly. We are not in this scenario at the moment. According to our tanker brokers, fixing activity has not surged so far and most owners are still willing to bring their tankers into the AG. However, this can change quickly. Stay tuned.

Crew Missing and Injured as Fire Spreads on Wan Hai Ship Off India

09.06.2025

The Indian Coast Guard and Navy are responding to an unfolding situation as a fire is burning on a Wan Hai containership off the west coast of India. Initial reports are that four crewmembers are listed as missing while 18 were rescued from a lifeboat and life raft, some with serious injuries, and were expected to be evacuated to India. In updated reports from the Indian Coast Guard the fire is continuing to spread on the abandoned vessel.

The authorities received a report at approximately 1230 local time on June 9 of a fire in one container that was spreading to others aboard the Singapore-flagged containership Wan Hai 503 (51,300 dwt). Images appear to show containers askew and burning on the forward part of the ship with reports in the media that at least 40 to 50 containers went overboard. At least one container is upside down and the door is open on another container. Later photos show the more containers consumed in the fire.

Media reports are saying there were multiple explosions aboard the vessel. The ship is reported to be transporting various hazardous materials, including flammable liquids and solids, spontaneous combustible substances, and toxic substances.

In a later update, the Indian Coast Guard said the situation remains critical and that all efforts are being made to stabilize the vessel. They are reporting that dense smoke is continuing to billow from the ship as the fire appears to have spread, raising fears of secondary explosions.

A call went out for assistance from passing vessels and the ONE Marvel containership diverted along with the MSC Ambra. The surviving 18 crewmembers have been transferred from lifeboats to an Indian Navy ship and are now en route to New Mangalore Port. The Indian media is reporting two are seriously injured and three others have less serious injuries. A search was ongoing for the missing crewmembers, which are reported to include two from Taiwan, one from Indonesia, and one from Myanmar.

The Indian Navy sent one vessel to assist. The Coast Guard also dispatched five ships and aircraft have also been sent to survey the scene.

The Wan Hai 503 is reported to be approximately 78 nautical miles southwest of the Kerala region of India. The vessel had departed Colombo on June 7 and was heading to Mumbai where it was due on June 10. The vessel was built in 2005 and has a capacity of 4,252 TEU. It is 882 feet (229 meters) in length. It underwent its last Port State inspection at the beginning of June in Mumbai and minor issues were cited with loading and unloading equipment and a workspace safety warning was issued, but there was no detention.

The situation continues to unfold with Wan Hai reportedly having retained firefighting and salvage tugs to head to the ship.