Iranian Tankers Wait at Sea Off Sri Lanka and Malaysia Due to U.S. Blockade
It is a challenging time for the crews of Iranian-owned tankers. They are mostly stuck at sea, unable to return to ports in Iran because of the US naval blockade. On Tuesday, the U.S. also reported attacks on two Iranian tankers believed to have been anchored near the port of Bandar Abbas.
There is now a large fleet of empty tankers, which, having discharged their cargos – mostly in China – are now stranded at sea with nowhere to go.
So far the US naval blockade has been operated as a bar on ships of any flag seeking to load or discharge at Iranian ports, enforced from the Gulf of Oman on the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz. As of September 1, CENTCOM reports its forces have redirected 84 commercial vessels, disabled three, and boarded two to ensure compliance. However, there must be some nervousness within the Iranian tanker fleet that US naval action could expand to include the seizure of Iranian vessels elsewhere, as the blockade notification already covers. There previously were long-range actions on ships that have escaped the blockade.
The fraught situation is evident in a cluster of Iranian tankers which has gathered in the Galle Anchorage off the south-west corner of Sri Lanka. The Financial Times estimated that “more than a dozen” of these ships are at anchor just meters outside Sri Lankan territorial waters, within which the seizure of a ship would be a breach of UNCLOS. Sri Lankan port authorities say that the ships are outside their territorial waters, and not therefore under their jurisdiction. But if the masters of the Iranian vessels thought they were under threat, they could quickly move into Sri Lankan territorial waters, not necessarily with any permission, and seek protection by default. These distinctions matter, because the Iranian frigate IRINS Dena (F75) was sunk on March 4 in international waters 40nm south of Galle with the loss of 87 lives, after Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake refused the ship refuge in Sri Lankan waters.
Periscope view as the stern of IRINS Dena fractures and lifts out of the water when hit by a Mk 48 torpedo fired by USS Charlotte (SSN-766) off Sri Lanka on March 4 (CENTCOM video)
Satellite imagery shows a large number of tankers at anchor on the territorial waters boundary, and interrogation of the VesselFinder database shows that many of these tankers (indicated by an orange dot) are vessels which are sanctioned by the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom
Sentinel-2 imagery and VesselFinder map showing a cluster of sanctioned tankers just outside Sri Lankan territorial waters off Galle, August 29 (Sentinel-2/VesselFinder/©CJRC)
The Financial Times, quoting the NGO UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran), has also identified a further 48 tankers linked to trading in Iranian crude, which are anchored in the long-established ship-to-ship transfer box east of Johore and just outside the Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone. There appear to be significantly more tankers at anchor in this area currently, and in a bigger box than when The Maritime Executive last looked in June last year.
Tankers at anchor off Malaysia but outside its Exclusive Economic Zone (Vesselfinder.com/CJRC)
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Kpler currently estimates that Iranian oil stocks held afloat appear to have declined from 192 million barrels in mid-April to about 80 million barrels at the end of August. Most of this stock, however, is already pre-sold and is waiting off Chinese ports for unloading. Where data from Iranian-associated tankers is available on VesselFinder, draught in the water readings suggest that almost all of those off Sri Lanka and most off Malaysia are unladen.
