Ships loaded with hundreds of thousands of containers lie idle in the Strait of the Persian Gulf.
Stena Bulk has ships all over the world and mainly employs people from India, the Philippines, the USA and several countries in Europe, including Sweden. According to Stena Bulk, “a handful” of the Gothenburg shipping company’s ships have been stuck in the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of war. Each ship has a crew of around 20 people. The shipping company does not want to give an exact number of ships or the nationalities of the employees on site, citing the safety of the crews.
The ships in the strait sail under the flags of different countries. Last week, one of the shipping company’s American-flagged ships was hit by objects in connection with an attack on a port in Bahrain. It is unclear what type of object this is.
– There are incidents in the area where ships are being fired upon, so it’s clear that this is a tense situation for the crew. “We are monitoring developments together with authorities and security companies and taking measures to keep it as safe as possible,” says Erik Hånell.
US President Donald Trump issued a statement early last week that the U.S. Navy would begin escorting ships through the strait as soon as possible if necessary. Since then, according to Erik Hånell, the shipping company has not received any information about what will happen in the future.
– We have not yet been told anything concrete about what will happen next and what measures are likely to be taken. We’re still waiting for that.
He appreciates that The company’s operations will not be affected too much if the situation is resolved quickly. But if a significant portion of oil transport through the strait stops for a long period of time, demand for ships will fall, he says.
– We can handle it in the short term. We stick with other shipping areas outside the Persian Gulf, but a fifth of global oil consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz. If it disappears, there will simply be too many ships in the long term. It will have a negative impact on many industries, including ours.
