Thousands of merchant seafarers and hundreds of vessels are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf as the conflict involving Iran continues to disrupt navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, according to shipping executives cited by FreightWaves.
Industry representatives meeting in Stamford, Connecticut, said that more than 10,000 crew members are effectively trapped aboard vessels in the Gulf, with most ship operators unwilling to risk a passage through the strait under current conditions.
The situation worsened overnight after three cargo vessels were reportedly struck by projectiles of unknown origin in the region. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), one vessel north of Oman caught fire before the blaze was eventually extinguished. The crew was in the process of evacuating. Two other ships — a bulk carrier and a container vessel — also reported being hit. No injuries were initially reported, while damage assessments were still underway.
Shipping executives stressed that rumors circulating online about ships switching off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals and organizing convoys out of the Gulf were inaccurate.
“There have been no convoys,” said Tim Wilkins, managing director of Oslo-based tanker association Intertanko. He added that while some individual vessels had transited at night with AIS turned off, there had been no coordinated convoy movement.
According to executives present at the meeting, the vessels currently stranded include dry bulk ships, crude oil tankers, LNG carriers and container vessels. They also warned that operational decision-making is being complicated by unreliable information emerging from the region and by false reports spreading on social media.
The conflict has also disrupted marine fuel supply. Executives said bunker operations at Fujairah — one of the UAE’s main refueling hubs and the world’s third-busiest bunker center — have been shut down.
Since the conflict began, eight maritime workers have reportedly been killed in attacks, while seven U.S. military personnel have also died.
The current crisis marks an unprecedented moment for international shipping. While Iran blocked Iraqi shipping during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, this is considered the first time the Strait of Hormuz has effectively been shut to global commercial navigation on this scale.
U.S. Central Command said its forces had destroyed 16 Iranian vessels overnight that were allegedly laying mines in the strait. At the same time, Iran launched drone and missile strikes on Gulf land targets and threatened attacks on financial infrastructure in Dubai and elsewhere in the region.
According to the UKMTO, there have now been 10 suspected attacks on merchant shipping in the region since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.
