Sinokor offers crews six months’ pay for Hormuz round trips

The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company product tanker Kaifan issued a distress call after being hit by what its crew described as a drone or missile around eight nautical miles northeast of Limah, Oman. The strike sparked an engine room fire, and the crew later abandoned the vessel into a lifeboat, UK Maritime Trade Operations reported.

The incident came hours after the Malta-flagged product tanker Kavomaleas, operated by Greece’s Dynacom Tankers, was struck by two projectiles near Kumzar, Oman.      A fire broke out in the engine room and the crew evacuated after deploying the ship’s fire-suppression system. All seafarers were rescued, while the tanker remained burning and adrift.   A separate vessel reported steering gear damage after being struck 17 nautical miles east of Dibba in the UAE. Its crew was safe, and no pollution was reported.

The attacks coincided with a tenth consecutive night of US strikes against Iranian military targets. Commercial traffic through Hormuz has again slowed sharply.   The financial cost of accepting that risk is reaching new highs. Reuters reported that marine war-risk premiums for Hormuz transits have climbed to as much as 10% of a vessel’s value following the latest attacks.   The most immediate pressure, however, is falling on seafarers. Bloomberg reported that South Korea’s Sinokor Group, the world’s largest owner of VLCCs, has offered crews an additional six months’ salary for a one-month round trip through Hormuz to load oil in Saudi Arabia or Iraq and discharge in the Gulf of Oman.