A shipowner is attempting to coax crews into sailing through the Strait of Hormuz by offering them an extra six months' pay if they’re willing to cross the vital waterway.
Sinokor Group, the world’s largest owner of supertankers, has made the offer to its seafarers for a round trip to pick up oil from either Saudi Arabia or Iraq and unload it in the Gulf of Oman. The company has offered an additional six months' salary to make a return voyage, which it said would take about a month, according to a document distributed last week and seen by Bloomberg.
At least 59 commercial ships have come under attack in and around the Arabian Gulf since the war began at the end of February, with 17 seafarers losing their lives, according to the UN’s shipping agency.
The offers – made before Monday’s attacks on merchant shipping – underscore the fundamental tension of transiting the waterway, forcing seafarers to decide between missing out on large rewards or gambling with their own lives.
The highest-paid person on most ships is the captain, who earns as much as $15,000 a month on oil tankers, according to officials at two shipping companies. A junior sailor, known as a rating, might earn about $1,500 a month in normal times, an official at one owner said. They have the right to ask to leave a vessel and be replaced if they don’t want to sail into the danger zone.
Shipowners can command millions of dollars for taking their vessels on a trip in and out of Hormuz, and insurers are also now charging huge premiums for transit. The crew members, however, are the ones taking the greatest personal risk, and some are refusing the extra rewards. Seafarers' willingness to make the journey has come under renewed scrutiny since at least two died in attacks last week, while another vessel was abandoned on Monday. The offers were made after those fatalities.
“They are being offered huge bonuses by some companies,” said Pradeep Chawla, chairman of GlobalMET, which works with the International Maritime Organisation to promote seafarer training and education, without specifically referencing the Sinokor offer. “We have heard stories of a large number of crew members getting off, but they are able to find people who are willing to go.”
Sinokor has become a major player in shipping Middle Eastern oil after it managed to amass the world’s largest fleet of supertankers with backing from MSC Mediterranean Shipping. The company has been vital in helping regional producers get their barrels out, particularly the UAE, but also Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The company did not respond to a request for comment outside of usual business hours.
Salary offerings for crossing the strait can vary. Two people involved in securing crew for vessels transiting the waterway said they were generally seeing lower rates than those offered by Sinokor, but significant bonuses were available. One of them said some shipping firms were adding as much as 60 days' salary to a 30-day contract.
In general, compensation for the voyages has jumped since attacks on shipping began to slow traffic through Hormuz early last week. Pay also rose in the early stages of the Iran war, when vessels were being attacked regularly inside the Arabian Gulf. Visible traffic through the strait has declined in recent days, though there is uncertainty about how much continues to cross the waterway in the dark, with satellite signals switched off.
