October was the worst month yet for shipping attacks around Hormuz, UK maritime monitor's data shows
UKMTO data tallied by several outlets put October attacks on shipping in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz at about 35, the highest monthly total since the conflict began in February.
October was the worst month yet for attacks on shipping in the Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began in February, according to data from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre tallied by several news outlets. UKMTO data put the number of attacks on vessels in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz at about 35 in October, making it the most active month for maritime attacks since the United States and Israel launched joint air strikes against Iran on 28 February. March had been the second-worst month, with around 30 incidents, and October's total was roughly twice September's, according to CBS News' reading of the same UKMTO figures. Tallies differ slightly between outlets — Al Jazeera's count of the UKMTO data found at least 35 attacks, while CBS reported just over 30 — a gap that reflects different counting methods and the fact that UKMTO reporting by vessels is voluntary. Across the wider region, UKMTO data carried by Al Jazeera put the total at at least 144 reported attacks since 28 February across the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Aden and the Sea of Oman, while CBS put the war total at 145. A narrower UKMTO count covering only the strait itself recorded 88 incidents, showing how the headline figure changes with the area covered. Shipping traffic through the strait remained far below pre-war levels even as it picked up slightly. In the week ending 28 October, UKMTO recorded 122 ships departing the strait and 155 arriving, a total of 277 transits that was roughly 70 per cent below pre-war levels but up from 114 outbound and 127 inbound the previous week. Most vessels broadcasting their automatic identification system signals continued to use the Iranian route through the strait, UKMTO said, although traffic along the southern route had increased. That southern corridor has become a focus of risk: 59 of the 81 projectile strikes recorded in the Hormuz region since 6 July came along the southern route, according to the UKMTO figures. The monthly tally was published as Friday's conflicting accounts of tanker incidents in the strait remained unresolved. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said four tankers caught fire and exploded while travelling along what it called unauthorised routes, while UKMTO confirmed only a single projectile strike, on a crude oil tanker south of Iran's Lavan Island that caught fire with its crew reported safe. Oman's navy separately rescued 25 crew from a burning Panama-flagged vessel in the strait, and a second Panama-flagged tanker was reported to have been hit by limpet mines, with its crew extinguishing an engine-room fire and remaining unharmed, according to the Indian shipping minister's account. No authority has yet produced evidence that reconciles the Iranian claim of four tankers with the single strike confirmed by UKMTO. The shipping danger has fed directly into energy markets. Brent crude traded above 116 dollars a barrel on Friday and was up more than 13 per cent across October, close to its wartime closing high, as traders priced in the risk of further disruption to flows through a waterway that carries a large share of the world's seaborne oil. Earlier snapshots of the month already pointed the same way. By 23 October, researchers at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy had counted 28 confirmed and reported attacks in October, and the International Maritime Organization had recorded around 120 incidents in the strait and the wider Middle East since the conflict began, with more than 30 very large crude carriers damaged, including 11 in October alone. What comes next for shipping is uncertain. Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday in an effort to revive a ceasefire, and the US president has said the war will end soon without saying how, while US media have reported warnings to Gulf allies to prepare for possible renewed military action after the 3 November midterm elections. Any diplomatic breakthrough could ease the threat to shipping, while a failure of mediation could leave October's record as a baseline rather than a peak.Advertisement · Google AdSense 728×90 / 320×100
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