‘80 mines’ block Hormuz ship lane ahead of reopening

• Assessment from oil tanker association
• ‘Enormous amount’ will take time to clear
• Tight corridors also raise collision risk

Around 80 mines remain lodged in the main shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a leading oil tanker trade association.

The assessment from Intertanko managing director Philip Belcher puts a number on the scale of the mine-clearance challenge after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding this week outlining a path to peace after more than three months of war.

The strait is 21 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point, but most commercial shipping before the conflict was funnelled through two traffic lanes with a width of just two nautical miles in each direction.

Belcher said this route, known as the traffic separation scheme (TSS), remains shut because of explosive hazards.

“The scheme through the middle of the Strait of Hormuz is closed, it’s dangerous and it’s got mines in it,” he told a webinar hosted by maritime news outlet Lloyd’s List. “The latest figure we had […] was that there are 80 mines in the Strait of Hormuz’s separation scheme itself.”

Speaking before the US announced the lifting of its naval blockade, he said: “It’s an enormous amount that’s going to take some time to clear.

“What we’ve been arguing for a long time now is: ‘Let’s get back to a much more normal situation where that main route through the centre of the strait is reopened’.”

Comparing the current arrangement to forcing motorway traffic off the main carriageway, he said: “This is like a highway where the road in the middle is closed and you’re using the hard shoulder in the UK. That’s now being used as the main route.”

The TSS has been jointly operated by Oman and Iran since 1968 to move ships and stranded crew out of the contested waterway.

Traffic presently passes via narrower northern and southern corridors running through Iranian and Omani waters.

Belcher said that under a round-the-clock operating regime, both alternative routes could handle up to 80 vessels a day, compared with around 130 transits through the central passageway under normal conditions.

Collision risk

However, he said the southern Omani route runs close to rocks, increasing the risk of vessels “running aground”, while the concentration of ships in tight corridors also raises the danger of collisions.

“You could have a large number of ships going through a very small area with no control at all,” he said.

He said the priority was to clear the mines, reopen the central shipping lane and widen alternative routes to allow vessels to transit safely.

Further reading:

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Belcher welcomed the US-Iran MoU but said uncertainty remained over how the strait would be governed once traffic resumed. One concern for shipping is that Iran has been given a central role in discussions on the future management of the waterway.

He noted that Tehran is not a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which enshrines the right of transit through international straits used for navigation. The treaty came into force in 1994 and has 172 parties.

Belcher said shipping companies wanted assurances that unimpeded passage would continue to apply and warned that any future restrictions or tolls could have implications far beyond the Gulf.

“This has to be done for freedom of navigation,” he said. “Otherwise we’re going to get into a real mess – not just here, but possibly in other parts of the world.”