Iran warns insurers over Hormuz blacklist ships

Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) has updated its blacklist of vessels breaching Hormuz transit rules, warning insurers against serving them, it said on September 14.

The update extends a campaign Iran began in August to enforce its own transit regime through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the US and Israel went to war with Iran in late February.

Widening the warning from shipowners to insurers, protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs and classification societies raises the stakes for the wider maritime industry, which has continued to service some vessels operating in the Gulf despite the closure.

The PGSA said insurance companies, P&I clubs and classification societies should refrain from providing services to listed vessels in order to avoid liability for consequences arising from association with them. The updated list is published at pgsa.ir/non-compliance-list.

The PGSA, established by Iran in May and sanctioned that month by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, first published a non-compliant vessels list on August 24, naming 45 ships accused of violating its navigation rules.

The list grew to 56 vessels within days, with Iran warning that any ship conducting ship-to-ship transfers or transhipment with a listed vessel could be added.

Vessel operators seeking removal from the list must submit a formal application to the PGSA explaining their request.

The list includes the LNG carrier GasLog Shanghai (IMO 9600528), which Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its forces struck in the Strait of Hormuz on August 1 while the vessel was transiting under US air escort.

The ship, operated by Greek owner GasLog, lost propulsion after the attack and drifted until assistance arrived, according to industry reports at the time. Its presence on the PGSA's own blacklist means a vessel Iran's forces have acknowledged attacking is now also subject to Iranian transit sanctions.

Other vessels named span very large crude carriers, LNG and LPG carriers, and product tankers, with names linked to operators including Navig8, Stolt Tankers and GasLog.

The PGSA has not published the basis for each listing beyond its general rules on transit compliance and ship-to-ship transfers with already-listed vessels.