On Wednesday 11 March, the President and CEO of the World Shipping Council, Joe Kramek, explained that “the safety of crews must remain the absolute priority”, after several ships were attacked in the Middle East in recent days and several seafarers killed.
According to Mr Kramek, some 20,000 seafarers on board ships operating in the Middle East are facing a “dangerous and extremely uncertain security situation”.
“We share the call of the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization for urgent action to ensure the protection of seafarers and respect for freedom of navigation; seafarers must not be targets,” Joe Kramek said in a statement, explaining that shipping companies were taking operational decisions based on the best available information and risk assessments, including suspending or rerouting services where necessary.
At the beginning of March, the EU announced that it would be stepping up its maritime security operation in the Red Sea, ASPIDES (see EUROPE 13819/1). On Wednesday, the spokesman for the European External Action Service, Anouar El-Anouni, pointed out that “to date, Operation ASPIDES has protected 606 merchant ships and contributed to the safe passage of more than 1,000 other ships”.
France has also proposed a defensive mission to protect maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. “As European navies strengthen their presence in the region, we will ensure that all efforts remain fully complementary,” promised Mr El-Anouni, who added that the need to ensure safe passage and protection for container ships and oil tankers would not stop at the Strait of Hormuz.
For its part, the United States admitted on Thursday 12 March that the army was “not ready”, for the time being, to escort oil tankers through the Straits of Hormuz, as all US military resources are “currently focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)