JUST IN: Ships defy blockades in Hormuz with false identities, turned off transponders and spoofing | International
Sources confirm that the following story has emerged from the international scene.
The double Iranian and American blockade to which the Strait of Hormuz, one of the main global supply routes for hydrocarbons, is subjected, has turned its transit into a game of cat and mouse in which ships challenge the limits using irregular tactics and misdirection maneuvers to take advantage of exceptions, but it has also caused some ships to have to interrupt their voyage and turn around to avoid confrontations that jeopardize negotiations that hang by a thread and the fragile ceasefire. current. While the Iranian blockade of Hormuz is focused on the narrowest part of this sea route – about 35 kilometers wide – the American blockade is located further east, at the exit of the Gulf of Oman to the Indian Ocean, a space of about 300 kilometers from north to south. A dozen US military ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and numerous aircraft have been deployed in these waters to force compliance with the blockade, which came into effect on Monday. Every afternoon, the Central Command of the United States Armed Forces publishes the results of its mission, emphasizing that no vessel has surpassed its barrier. “After 72 hours of execution, 14 ships have turned around to comply with the blockade at the direction of US forces,” he posted on the social network X on Thursday. Among those that have changed course is the Rich Starry, a Chinese-owned ship loaded with 250,000 barrels of methanol and sanctioned by the United States, which was the first to pass through Hormuz after the implementation of the US blockade. However, it turned around in the Gulf of Oman and on Thursday was anchored off the Iranian island of Qeshm, again inside the strait, according to data from MarineTraffic. “Merchant ships have continued to pass through the Strait of Hormuz using routes closer to Iran, suggesting that Iran’s approval mechanism remains in effect. The US naval posture appears to focus on a distancing blockade, with the aim of restricting traffic to and from Iranian ports without completely closing the strait,” he explains. Daniel Mueller, senior analyst at the maritime risk management company Ambrey, in statements to EL PAÍS. A report from the maritime intelligence company Windward stated that, during the first 48 hours of the naval blockade, 19 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz, five heading to the Persian Gulf and 14 to the Gulf of Oman, including at least two tankers and five Iranian-flagged cargo ships, although it is not clear if they have reached Indian Ocean waters. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported the passage through Hormuz of two other ships sanctioned by the United States and linked to Iran. “Ships have been observed transiting the strait towards Iran, with some changing their port of destination to hide the fact that they will call at Iranian ports,” explains the specialized publication Lloyd’s List. Two employees of the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd were monitoring the situation of ships in the Strait of Hormuz last Wednesday in Hamburg. Ebrahim Noroozi (AP) The rules of the blockade are not entirely clear and, in several statements, the United States states that “neutral” ships have permission to continue sailing. But on Thursday, its forces issued a Navtex – a telegraphic alert to ships and ports in the area – in which they added that, in addition to Iranian ships, the US fleet will “board” for registration and even seizure any ship subject to US sanctions or suspected of “smuggling”, including any type of hydrocarbons. This situation is triggering the use of misdirection maneuvers, says the Windward report. International maritime regulations require ships of large tonnage and size to always keep the transponder on, a device that communicates with the Automatic Identification System (AIS, for its international acronym) and transmits the name, position, route and other details of the vessel. In recent times, especially following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, maneuvers such as keeping communication with the AIS turned off (something only allowed in certain risk situations) have proliferated to avoid detection or hide the ports where a certain vessel calls, which has led ships that abuse these illegal tactics to be called ghost fleets or dark fleets. There are other methods such as so-called spoofing, which consists of altering the information transmitted to the AIS, for example, the position of the ship, the identification number or navigation history. Something that creates “hazards for navigation, especially on such congested roads” and “increases the possibility of collisions,” explains Mueller. But it also increases the risks for the various regulatory layers involved in each maritime shipment (shipowners, ship owners, freight and vessel insurers, maritime agents…) by “undermining transparency” and “complicating diligence processes.” “Zombie ships”A variant of spoofing is the tactic called “zombie ship” in which the identity of another ship, often decommissioned, is transmitted, something that has been detected on several occasions in the Strait of Hormuz. This is the case of the oil tanker that uses the identification Race – a ship that was scrapped more than a decade ago – and that, after having overcome the blockade, is currently heading towards India. Its signal indicates that it has loaded at the Iraqi port of Basra, although Lloyd’s List believes that its cargo is Iranian, although it is not clear whether loaded directly at a port in the Islamic Republic or in a ship-to-ship transfer operation. “Increasingly sophisticated efforts have been made for years to conceal voyages to Iranian ports. Tankers from clandestine fleets often issue false AIS positions that place them in non-Iranian ports in the Middle East to hide that they are, in fact, loading Iranian products,” the shipping publication maintains, citing a recent analysis in which they estimated that “approximately half” of the declared calls at the Iraqi port of Khor al Zubair, close to the border with Iran, are false and used to mask the cargo of Iranian crude oil or gas. The Ambrey analyst points out that these tactics have been observed since the beginning of the conflict, but clarifies that “although they make remote monitoring” of the ships difficult, “they do not prevent their detection by radar or physical interception.” The United States deployment includes several reconnaissance aircraft, to which is added the use of optical radars and devices for capturing radio signals and even mobile telephones of the sailors on board, which can limit the effectiveness of distraction tactics for ships trying to circumvent the blockade. In fact, the chief of staff of the United States, Dan Caine, warned ghost ships and those that violate international navigation regulations in the blockade zone that they risk being boarded by his fleet.
What This Means:
This report highlights significant developments in the international landscape that could reshape diplomatic relations in the coming weeks.
This is part of a broader trend that has been reshaping the geopolitical landscape in recent months.
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Source: This article was originally published in another language by Internacional en EL PAÍS and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.