FILE PHOTO: Tankers are seen off the coast of the Fujairah, as Iran vows to fire on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
Amr Alfiky
Supertankers have begun to abandon planned voyages into the Persian Gulf and seek safer destinations amid the turmoil at the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
At least three very large crude carriers that sailed from Asia with plans to load in the Gulf have diverted toward the Atlantic Basin, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The Plata Glory is now bound for the Cape of Good Hope, and the G. Hope has set course for the US, after both initially signalled Middle Eastern ports before the outbreak of hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran.
A third vessel, the Amantea, is also heading south toward the Cape, but has yet to update its destination after previously signalling Fujairah on the UAE coast, just outside the strait. And the Karan, which was heading toward Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf, has diverted to its Yanbu facility on the Red Sea, as state producer Saudi Aramco redirects crude supplies there in a move to bypass the Gulf.
The move will mean fewer tankers are in place to lift oil from key Middle East producers as and when conditions normalise. The region’s producers are filling up their storage because there aren’t enough oil carriers entering the Persian Gulf to collect cargoes.
The diverted tankers are avoiding the growing flotilla of vessels backed up in a queue that extends thousands of miles to the south of India. More than 60 empty VLCCs are holding position or reducing speed as the crisis in West Asia deepens, according to Kpler and vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
That paralysis has sparked an intensifying scramble for available tonnage, as traders seek out non-West Asian crude to keep global refineries humming, as well as catapulting tanker rates to historic highs.
And faced with the possibility of a prolonged regional blockade and the sudden withdrawal of war risk insurance, some shipowners now appear to be shifting toward collecting safer Atlantic Basin cargoes.
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Published on March 5, 2026