August 24th, 20190The , the world’s most tracked ship over the past week, has changed its destination. The Iranian VLCC, formerly known as Grace 1, was freed by Gibraltar authorities last weekend after six weeks’ detention for carrying oil bound for sanctions-hit Syria. The fully laden tanker has been heading east all week through...
August 23rd, 20190State television in Sweden is reporting that the , impounded at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas for the past 35 days, could be released soon. SVT reported last night, citing sources within Sweden’s foreign ministry, that the Stena Bulk tanker could be released in the next few days. The UK-flagged ship was taken while transiting the...
August 22nd, 20190Currently midway between Spain and Sardinia, tanker spotters from across the world are keeping a close eye on the progress of the , the Iranian VLCC formerly known as Grace 1, freed by Gibraltar authorities over the weekend, but still very much at the centre of a geopolitical tussle with the United States. Although the ship is still...
August 20th, 20191The Iranian VLCC, formerly known as Grace 1, continues to head east through the Mediterranean, bound for the port of Kalamata in Greece, having been allowed to leave Gibraltar yesterday after being detained for seven weeks. The Greek port commenced ship-to-ship operations earlier this year, which the fully laden tanker will need to...
August 19th, 20191The , an Iranian VLCC seize by British armed forces off Gibraltar on July 4, has left the UK sovereign territory early this morning and is now making its way east across the Mediterranean. The ship was at the centre of a diplomatic storm - accused of carrying oil for sanctions-hit Syria, the Iranians responded in kind by seizing a...
August 13th, 20192Crew attacked in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz will get bonus pay and doubled death and disability compensation after the the International Bargaining Forum (IBF) designated the area a temporary extended risk zone. This follows a period of discussions by the IBF’s Warlike Operations Areas Committee over the past weeks,...
August 12th, 20190With the crew of the now detained for nearly four weeks in Iran, Stena Bulk's chief executive and president Erik Hanell has written to Narendra Modi, asking the Indian prime minister to personally intervene to negotiate with Tehran. Eighteen of the 23 crew detained on the Stena product carrier are Indian nationals - and there are a...
August 8th, 20190The US Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration issued a warning yesterday suggesting Iran is engaged in interfering with ships’ GPS systems as they transit near the Middle Eastern nation. The warning said merchant ships had reported "spoofed bridge-to-bridge communications from unknown entities falsely claiming to be...
August 7th, 20192The United Kingdom cannot use the Strait of Hormuz for as long as Iran is denied passage through the Strait of Gibraltar, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. "Security for security, peace for peace, strait for strait. The Strait of Hormuz cannot be opened for you while Gibraltar is closed to us," Rouhani said...
August 5th, 20190Iranian media reported yesterday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a "foreign oil tanker" on July 31. Images on state media however show the ship to be an offshore support vessel. The unnamed Iraqi vessel was allegedly "smuggling fuel to some Arab countries". It has been reported that 700,000 litres of product have...
