Hormuz Is Getting Harder to Cross: Two More Tankers Hit in 48 Hours

The Strait of Hormuz is again showing how quickly a security problem can become a shipping problem.

On 20 September, the Liberia-flagged LPG tanker Al Maryah was struck by a drone while sailing eastbound outside the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel suffered no major damage, its main engine remained operational and all 19 crew members were safe. The tanker later anchored at Khor Fakkan. Reports said nine Indian seafarers were among the crew.

The following day, 21 September, another tanker was hit, this time while entering the Strait. UKMTO reported that an unidentified projectile struck the vessel, injuring two crew members. The tanker remained under its own power and continued its voyage, with no pollution reported. Maritime-security sources subsequently identified the vessel as LR Stephanie, an Isle of Man-flagged tanker operated by Universal Tankers in Greece.

These were not isolated incidents.

JMIC and maritime-security reporting indicate that three tanker-related attacks were already recorded around 17–18 September, including an incident in which a tanker suffered hull damage and a fire that was subsequently extinguished. The crew were reported safe.

The bigger issue is now traffic.

Reuters reported that only two commodity vessels crossed the Strait on 21 September, compared with ten the previous day and a pre-conflict average of around 125 large commercial vessels per day. Independent tracking also shows a sharp reduction in visible traffic, although US maritime-coordination data reports substantially higher facilitated movements.

For shipping, this means the risk is no longer only about a vessel being attacked. It is about whether owners, masters, charterers, insurers and crews are willing to make the transit at all.

Hormuz remains open in a physical sense, but every additional incident adds another layer of operational uncertainty — waiting, rerouting, insurance exposure, crew safety and ultimately higher logistics costs.

And for the maritime industry, that may become the bigger story than any single attack.