GFS Pride Sinks in Hormuz, Crew Safe

A Singapore-flagged container ship, the GFS Pride, sank in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, Oct. 14, a day after an unidentified projectile struck it and set it on fire. All 21 crew members were evacuated without injuries, according to Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA). It is the latest blow in a sharp rise in attacks on commercial shipping that Western monitors and analysts link to Iran.

Key facts: the GFS Pride sinking

Ship: GFS Pride, a container ship built in 2008 with room for 2,824 twenty-foot containers (TEU), 222 meters long, according to its manager’s fleet listing.
Flag and operator: Registered in Singapore and managed by GFS Ship Management. The MPA said no Singaporeans were aboard.
Cargo: Iranian state television said the ship carried 2,500 containers, The Guardian reported. That figure has not been independently confirmed.
Location: About 4 nautical miles northwest of Ras al-Sheikh Masud on Oman’s Musandam Peninsula, according to a navigational warning that said floating containers were in the water.
Time: The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said two container ships reported projectile strikes between 16:40 and 17:00 GMT on Tuesday, Oct. 13 (12:40 to 1 p.m. ET). The sinking was reported in a warning issued at 10:45 GMT on Wednesday (6:45 a.m. ET).
Crew: All 21 evacuated, with no injuries reported.
Second ship: Another Singapore-flagged container ship, the GFS Giselle, took hull damage from a projectile on Wednesday but reached a safe anchorage under its own power with all 22 crew safe, the MPA said.
Who and how: UKMTO and the MPA describe “unknown projectiles.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a ship hit a naval mine while using what it called an unauthorized route. Maritime security firm Marisks told clients there is no independent evidence of a mine, CNBC reported.
Oil price: Brent crude rose 37 cents, or 0.35%, to settle at $106.06 a barrel on Wednesday afternoon ET. U.S. benchmark WTI gained 95 cents to $95.09, its highest close in three weeks.
Shipping traffic: Crude exports through Hormuz averaged 8.5 million barrels per day in the week ended Oct. 12, almost 40% below prewar levels, according to Kpler data cited by CNBC.

Third commercial ship sunk in the Iran war

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations shipping agency, counts the GFS Pride as the third commercial ship sunk since the U.S.-Iran war began on Feb. 28, CNBC reported. Hours after the Pride went down, the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Cape Dao also sank near the strait, according to IMO data cited by The Guardian. That ship had been hit by a projectile on Sept. 23.

The BBC reported that Iran has started targeting ships using a southern route through Omani waters. That route, which the U.S. military has been using to guide vessels through the strait, avoids the passage through Iranian waters that Tehran prefers. The site of the sinking, off the tip of the Musandam Peninsula, fits that pattern.

Timeline: recent attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz

Feb. 28: The U.S.-Iran war begins. Iranian missile and drone attacks and a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports effectively close the strait.
June: Washington and Tehran reach a preliminary deal to end the war and reopen the waterway. It collapses within weeks after attacks resume and the blockade is reinstated, according to the BBC.
September: Crude exports through Hormuz briefly return to prewar levels as the U.S. military escorts tankers.
Sept. 23: The Cape Dao is struck by a projectile near the strait.
Two weeks to Oct. 11: 24 ships are hit, according to a Financial Times analysis cited by The Guardian.
Oct. 11: Six vessels are attacked in a single day, according to UKMTO monitoring. Our roundup of Iran’s Strait of Hormuz incidents tracks that weekend’s attacks.
Oct. 13: The GFS Pride is struck and catches fire.
Oct. 14: The GFS Pride sinks, the GFS Giselle is damaged, and the Cape Dao sinks. UKMTO reports at least five incidents, including drone strikes, in 48 hours.

Across October, more than 20 vessels, mostly oil tankers, have been attacked in the strait, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, according to UKMTO reports cited by CNBC. The IMO says this month’s attacks have left two sailors missing and more than a dozen injured.

Oil flows, insurance and the shipping squeeze

Flows through the strait are now highly erratic. Kpler data cited by CNBC showed only 3 million barrels of crude passing through Hormuz on Monday, Oct. 12, compared with 6 million on Friday, Oct. 9. Total Middle East shipments, including pipelines that bypass the strait, stood at 14 million barrels per day, nearly 20% below prewar levels.

The attacks also keep pressure on war-risk insurance, the extra cover ships need to sail through conflict zones. As we reported in our look at Chubb and the $40 billion U.S.-backed Hormuz insurance program, extra war-risk premiums rose from roughly 0.15% to 0.25% of a ship’s value per voyage before the war to 5% to 10% at the peak. Underwriters have not yet published new rates after this week’s sinkings.

In the U.S., fuel prices have climbed almost 70% since the war began, The Guardian reported, and the Nov. 3 midterm elections are less than three weeks away.

Analysis: why the tempo is rising

Two Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran has adopted new tactics against ships it says break its rules, changing both the type and pace of attacks, according to The Guardian. One official said the aim was to frustrate U.S. and allied efforts to lower global oil prices. The officials said the strategy was approved at the highest levels of Iran’s leadership and was partly meant to influence the U.S. vote. Marisks described Iran’s mine claims as consistent with a “psychological operations campaign” aimed at discouraging commercial traffic.

Reactions

Singapore: The MPA called the attacks on its two ships “unprovoked, unjustifiable, and a breach of international law,” and said it was in contact with the ships’ management company.

Iran: In a statement carried by state media, the IRGC said the ship was on an “illegal and dangerous route” when it hit a mine. Iran has repeatedly warned vessels not to transit without its approval.

United States: No formal U.S. statement on the GFS Pride had been published as of Wednesday evening. A U.S. military official, speaking anonymously to Reuters, said the IRGC has begun using unarmed spotters in small boats to find targets after U.S. strikes destroyed much of Iran’s radar. The official said U.S. forces recently ordered the crew off one such dhow and then destroyed it, with no casualties.

Shipping industry: “There is a tempo increase in strikes, which looks deliberate,” a maritime security source told The Guardian. GFS Ship Management had not issued a public statement as of publication.

Photo: The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Aquidneck in the Strait of Hormuz, Dec. 2, 2020. U.S. Navy photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Container Ship GFS Pride Sinks in Strait of Hormuz as Iran Steps Up Attacks