The United Arab Emirates blamed navigational errors for a collision involving two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. The incident raised worries about security through the passageway, a choke point for ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf, reports The New York Times.
The accident occurred in the Gulf of Oman amid increased reports of interference with the GPS on ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
An oil tanker collided with another tanker, causing “a small oil spill,” the Emirati government said Wednesday in a statement. Twenty-four crew members were evacuated from the site of the collision, which occurred about 24 nautical miles off the Emirati coast, according to the Emirati National Guard. No injuries were reported among the crew of either vessel.
The operator of one of the tankers reported that a fire had broken out on deck and described the incident as “a navigational incident and not related to the current regional conflict.”
But Iran and Israel have accused each other of endangering international maritime security and the global energy supply chain. About 1,000 vessels have been affected by GPS interference since the onset of increased tensions in the Middle East, according to Windward, a maritime analytics firm.
Around one-third of the volume of crude oil exported by sea and 20 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas, another vital commodity, flow through the Strait of Hormuz.
Jean-Charles Gordon, senior director of ship tracking at Kpler, a research firm, said hundreds, if not thousands, of vessels had experienced navigational interference since Friday, when Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran.
“The latitude and longitudes they’re receiving are completely false,” Mr. Gordon said, noting that marine traffic data showed ship positions that were abnormal and inaccurate. He said military-grade spoofers interfere with the location services of ships, leading their navigational systems to indicate that they are somewhere where they are not. This can increase the chance of collision, but ships also have other systems for navigation, he said.
“It’s electronic warfare, essentially,” Mr. Gordon said. “If the conflict continues, we expect these interferences to continue as well.”
The uncertainty in the region is troubling shipowners, said Jeff McGee, the managing director of Makai Marine Advisors. Across different sizes of vessel, he said, freight rates in the Persian Gulf have “pretty much doubled in the last few days.”
“They’re being hesitant about putting their ships in harm’s way,” he said.
Greenpeace, the environmental group, said satellite imagery showed a large amount of oil stretching up to 1,500 hectares, or nearly six square miles, from the site.
“This is just one of many dangerous incidents to take place in the past years,” said Farah Al Hattab, a campaigner at Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, adding that oil spills endanger marine life and can lead to widespread environmental damage.
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Source: The New York Times
