“Ghost” Tankers with US Escort Reopen Strait of Hormuz and Dodge Iranian Attacks
On July 25, the Greek supertanker Kiku docked at the Mesaieed export terminal in Qatar. Four days later, loaded with crude oil, it transited the Strait of Hormuz at 13 knots. On July 31, shortly after 2 p.m., near the coast of Dubai, the Kiku simply vanished from maritime tracking systems. Its AIS transponder was switched off. On the morning of August 1, the signal reappeared — on the other side of the strait, in the Gulf of Oman.
The maneuver is part of the oil industry’s latest tactic to circumvent the Iranian threat: nighttime “dark” transits with military escort from the United States. The goal is to avoid Iranian drone attacks, like the one that struck the Kiku a month earlier without detonating. With assistance from the US Navy, oil companies from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates have begun chartering tankers that switch off their transponders, carry crude through the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman, offload cargo onto their customers’ waiting vessels, and return to the Persian Gulf.
Oil Traffic Through the Strait Reaches 8-9 Million Barrels Per Day
According to the US Department of Energy, oil traffic through the strait has averaged between 8 million and 9 million barrels per day — roughly double what Wall Street analysts and trackers like Kpler, relying on transponder data, would indicate. About 80% of traffic over the past two weeks has been “dark,” hugging the coast of Oman, as far from Iran as possible.
Ship-to-Ship Transfers in the Gulf of Oman
CNN observed more than a dozen ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman over two days, with tankers bound for China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. The mechanics behind these transits follow a repeating pattern, illustrated by the Kiku case: the transponder is switched off upon entering the strait and only resumes transmitting on the other side, in the Gulf of Oman, where the cargo transfer takes place before the return to the Persian Gulf.
Typical Cycle of a “Dark” Transit
The typical cycle of a “dark” transit involves switching off the transponder upon entering the Strait of Hormuz and only resuming transmission on the other side, in the Gulf of Oman, where the cargo transfer takes place. The Kiku case illustrates the logistics of the operation: after reappearing near Fujairah, the supertanker anchored alongside another Greek vessel, the Nave Electron, which had arrived in the Gulf of Oman a day earlier. The two remained together for a week conducting a ship-to-ship oil transfer.
Radar and Satellite Imagery Reveal Hidden Picture
Radar and satellite imagery reveal a picture that transponder data fails to capture. In satellite photos from August 14, rows of dots appear skirting the coast of Oman through the strait, with no corresponding tracking data from the same time. On August 7, the Greek tankers Nissos Kythnos and Front Otra appeared side by side in the Gulf of Oman; a week later, the Front Otra was detected in the Arabian Sea heading toward Taiwan.
Not Without Risks
The strategy is not flawless. The strait is only 23 miles wide, and radar can still detect a vessel with its transponder off. Two UAE-flagged ships were attacked in the same week. Additionally, GPS interference caused by the regional conflict could potentially disrupt navigation systems and pose further risks to these “ghost” tankers.
Original Article: ‘Ghost’ tankers with US escort reopen Strait of Hormuz and dodge Iranian attacks — BigGo Finance — Biggo