The Persian Gulf Strait Authority said on Monday
that its non-compliance list had been updated and warned marine insurers, clubs
and class societies to refrain from dealing with listed vessels to avoid
unspecified consequences. The latest
move takes the list from 56 ships at the beginning of this month to 77. Vessels
designated by the Iranian authority can face restrictions on future passages
through Hormuz, including fines, detention or confiscation. Ships cooperating
with listed tonnage through ship-to-ship transfers or transhipment can also be
added. PGSA has not said when or in
what circumstances those penalties would be enforced, leaving owners,
charterers and service providers facing another layer of uncertainty when
fixing Gulf business. The blacklist has
grown rapidly. Splash reported at the end of August that Iran’s original list
contained 45 unique ships spanning VLCCs, product tankers, LNG and LPG carriers,
containerships and bulkers. Owners and operators caught in the first round
included ADNOC Logistics & Services and Navig8, Bahri, Sinokor,
Stolt-Nielsen, Klaveness Combination Carriers, Shipping Corporation of India,
Dynacom and GasLog. At the time, Tehran
also warned that ships conducting STS operations or transhipment with
blacklisted vessels could themselves be designated. The subsequent expansion means another 32
ships have been added since the initial list was published three weeks
ago. The update comes with Hormuz
traffic still sharply reduced. Preliminary ship tracking data cited on Monday
showed commodity-vessel crossings falling into single digits per day over the
weekend, against a 10-day average of 14, although the figures may miss ships transiting
with AIS switched off. Elsewhere in the Middle East, the picture is moving
in the opposite direction, with liner operators accelerating their return to
the Red Sea and the Suez Canal despite Houthi advances in the region. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are routing four
more Gemini Cooperation services through
the Red Sea and Suez Canal, significantly widening their staged return to the
shorter Asia-Europe corridor. Maersk
said on Monday (14 Sep) that the AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2 services will switch
from the Cape of Good Hope to trans-Suez routings. Hapag-Lloyd markets the same
loops as NE4, SE2, SE1 and IEX, respectively. The partners said the decision
followed another assessment of security conditions in the Red Sea and would
shorten transit times. The first
announced westbound change will see Antonia Maersk voyage 635W leave Tanjung
Pelepas on September 19 on the AE11/SE2 service. Marchen Maersk follows on
AE5/NE4 from the Malaysian hub on September 21. The first switched sailing on
AE12/SE1 has yet to be announced. The
move marks a substantial acceleration of Gemini’s return to Suez. Splash
covered the first cautious step in February when the ME11 service was rerouted
through the Red Sea with naval protection. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd subsequently
made AE15 a structural trans-Suez service in July, followed by AE19 in
August. Both carriers are keeping the
switch conditional on security conditions. Maersk said further network changes
remain dependent on stability in the region and the absence of renewed
escalation. These moves leave Evergreen
and the Premier Alliance partners ONE, HMM and Yang Ming as the only remaining
main carriers that have yet to return to the Red Sea. The capacity implications of a broader
return remain significant. Earlier this year Xeneta estimated that a
large-scale move back from the Cape to Suez could release the equivalent of 6%
to 8% of global containership capacity currently absorbed by longer voyages.