The tanker formerly known as the Suez Rajan was carrying a cargo of Iraqi crude through the Gulf of Oman on Thursday when four or five men wearing black masks boarded the vessel. It was diverted. To Iran.
Last year, Empire Navigation Inc, the vessel’s owner, was forced into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US government, which accused the Greek shipping company of violating sanctions on the transportation of Iranian oil. As part of the deal, Empire decided to hand over nearly a million barrels of Iranian crude to the US rather than face prosecution. (The Houthis could learn a thing or two about pirating from the US Treasury.)
The Suez Rajan was eventually rechristened. It’s the St Nikolas now, and the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was probably headed to the port of Bandar-e Jask on Thursday at the behest of its “unauthorized” guests, who came aboard donning “military-style black uniforms,” as UK Maritime Trade Operations put it. Communications were lost.
The incident came less than 48 hours after the US and the UK intercepted the most aggressive Houthi attack on international shipping lanes since the Iran-backed rebels began disrupting maritime traffic through the Red Sea in mid-November.
The visual (adapted from the UK Maritime Trade Operations’ incident tracker) gives you a sense of the geography, on the off chance you’re like 75% of Americans and can’t identify anything other than the US and maybe Canada on an unlabeled map. The orange markers are robberies, boardings and suspicious approaches. The red markers are attacks, hijackings and kidnappings.
According to Empire Navigation, the St Nikolas, chartered by a Turkish entity, loaded a cargo at Basrah and was proceeding to Turkey. Eventually, it would’ve transited the Suez I assume. If that’s right, the punchline (assuming you find this sort of thing funny) is that if it wasn’t Iran’s “men in black” (so to speak), it would’ve been missiles and drones fired by their associates in Yemen.
Iranian media later said the vessel was captured “in retaliation for the theft of oil by the US.” Needless to say, this counts as an escalation, and could be seen as Iran entering the Mideast melee directly.
I need some help from a willing co-reader. Why don’t tankers have a dozen armed private security? I would think the Blackwater boys would be itching to get into a firefight with the Iranians, Houthis, or other pirates? Surely the value of the cargo would justify it. Thanks in advance.
You need a security team big enough to cover all approaches to the ship 24 hours a day. This includes rest time for the off watch people. Salary plus meals. Some ships don’t have the extra berthing space for the extra people. The weapons and equipment can complicate customs and entry – sometimes resulting in additional costs for “importing” equipment. Insurance costs will still be elevated in a hostile zone even with a security team aboard. The cost of all these things gets added up and compared to the extra cost of fuel and time for changing the route to a safer one (like going around the Cape). In the end, its just a financial decision for the shipping company. If somebody pledges to make the cheaper route safe for “free” by sending combatants then, well… great for the shipping company.
Thanks. Appreciate the color.