Amid soaring tanker rates, a US‑led naval coalition has warned shipping that stationary vessels and ships on predictable routes are “credible” targets for sabotage across the Middle East, after a tanker linked to the Stena‑Sonangol suezmax pool was struck off the Iraqi coast. The Combined Maritime Forces’ Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) advisory underscores that risk is now reaching vessels well beyond the Strait of Hormuz itself.

The security alert comes as navigational integrity deteriorates. “Significant GNSS interference continues across the Strait of Hormuz approaches, Gulf of Oman, and the Arabian Gulf,” JMIC warned, noting positional offsets, AIS anomalies and intermittent signal degradation that have surged following the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran since February 28. The centre added that congestion and degraded positional data “act as a risk amplifier, increasing probability of navigational incident or miscalculation.”

Commercial traffic has effectively frozen. Where the strait historically recorded roughly 138 vessel transits per 24‑hour period, a recent AIS review showed daily transits plunged to single digits – only two commercial crossings were confirmed in the past 24 hours, and neither were tankers. The JJMIC said this reflected a near‑total pause driven by security warnings, insurance withdrawals and operational caution rather than a formal legal closure.

The tanker market has reacted with instantaneous shock‑pricing. Tankers International data shows extreme, sometimes theoretical, VLCC fixes and subs being quoted: Dynacom’s 300,000 dwt Adamantios (2022) was fixed to Reliance for a world record $537,913 a day for a voyage to India while the Kalamos VLCC (2010) is on subjects to Bharat Petroleum with a notional $758,000 a day on subs. Earlier in the week Minerva’s Pantanassa reportedly failed at $420,000 a day amid competing bids and market paralysis. Brokers caution many of these are paper or subject rates rather than completed fixtures, as owners and charterers pause to assess risk.