Saudi shipping company Bahri said on Wednesday that two Filipino crew members were killed in an attack on its vessel, Sidr, in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week.
The incident occurred when the ship was crossing the Strait of Hormuz at 11.40pm on Monday, the company said on Wednesday.
“Bahri remains in continuous contact with the vessel and is co-ordinating closely with the relevant authorities and maritime industry stakeholders, while continuing to closely monitor developments,” it said.
The company “remains committed to operating in accordance with the highest standards of safety, security and environmental protection”, Bahri added.
Thousands of seafarers have been stranded in the Gulf since the war began on February 28, according to the International Maritime Organisation. At least 70 attacks on ships have been verified, with 19 seafarers killed as of August 28, according to the IMO.
Up to 400 ships carrying about 6,000 crew have been unable to depart safely in the six months since the conflict began, IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said.
“Thousands of seafarers in the region continue to live and work under conditions of heightened risk and uncertainty,” he said.
“The impacts of this crisis are grave – both in the short and long term. The disruption of vital supply chains for fuels, fertilisers and other commodities has consequences for communities and economies around the world.”
Crossings through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about a fifth of the global oil exports passed before the war began, have dropped in the past few days amid renewed fighting between the US and Iran.
Five vessels – excluding container ships – crossed the waterway on Tuesday, according to initial data from Kpler, while 10 crossed on Monday, seven on Sunday and nine on Saturday.
That compares with 23 crossings last Wednesday, 25 on Thursday and 16 on Friday.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US was launching “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets near the strait in retaliation for the “Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines”.
Iran has vowed to retaliate, with Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain intercepting missiles from Tehran on Wednesday morning.
Saudi impact
Sidr, a very large crude carrier (VLCC), is an oil tanker that was built in 2019, according to Bahri's website.
Bahri, one of the world’s largest owners of VLCCs, operates a fleet of 109 vessels, of which 107 are owned, with two under long-term leases, as well as three floating seawater desalination barges, as of the end of June.
The Saudi-listed company said in July that its second quarter revenue surged by 156 per cent annually to 6.31 billion riyals ($1.68 billion) “primarily driven by Bahri Oil, which benefitted from higher freight rates and increased vessel chartering activity to meet growing customer demand”.
The company also confirmed that its whole fleet remained in use during the quarter despite the war.
Saudi Arabia relied heavily on exporting crude through the Bab Al Mandeb strait to the Red Sea after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, historically the route for most of the kingdom's crude exports.
However, the Tehran-backed Houthis declared a “maritime blockade” of Saudi ports in late July, threatening the Red Sea route as well.
A Saudi-owned tanker, Encelia, was attacked in the Red Sea on July 23, days after the Houthi threats. The attack caused a fire on the bow of the ship but all crew members are safe, authorities said at the time.
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil exporting company, is studying an expansion of its East-West pipeline and the establishment of new export routes, its chief executive said last month.
