Indeed, the Tehran government has vowed to attack any ship attempting to cross the seat, in a way that some 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas makes its way from the Persian Gulf to international markets. Large amounts of aluminum and fertilizers also pass through the stream.
Or rather, those are shipping rates under normal conditions. As of February 28, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz has become abnormal. “At the moment, ships waiting to cross in and out of Hormuz are waiting for development and are impassable,” said Svein Ringbakken, CEO of maritime war risk insurer DNK. “Shipowners take Iranian threats that ships will be attacked seriously and factor these into their risk assessments.”
Even when covered by war risk insurance (yes, it is available in war, including this one), ship owners are very cautious when it comes to war zones such as the high seas. “They are particularly concerned about ensuring the safety of their personnel. Waiting for developments is common in the early phase of a conflict with major combat operations going on,” Ringbakken explained. Only a few ships have been able and willing to cross the sea since the fighting began, and like the Danuta I, most of them were shadow ships carrying Iranian oil.
The open question now is how long the conflict will last. five days in, nine ships had already been hit or directly targeted in the stream or surrounding water, and three workers were killed. And when the President of the United States Donald Trump said The battle can last up to four to five weeksPopular battles are not guaranteed.
Furthermore, because shipping is international in nature, Europe will be affected as well. The oil tanker owned by Sweden, Stena Imperative, which was transporting oil for the US military, is among the ships that have been attacked. Meanwhile, many more ships waiting north and south of the strait are either owned or flagged in Europe, or carry cargo bound for the continent – mainly oil and gas, and possibly aluminum and urea, nitrogen fertilizer important for agriculture in the world and thus having food security.
Fortunately, the EU and the UK import more of their aluminum and urea from other countries, but they do it importing large quantities of diesel, petrol, oil, jet fuel and kerosene from the Gulf countries.
