Taking stock of the situation in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, BIMCO and fellow industry associations have develop transit corridors for the consideration of Ship Masters, Owners and Operators.
As informed, use of the corridors is not mandatory, and decisions should be based on a thorough security risk assessment.
According to Jakob Paaske Larsen, Head of Maritime Safety & Security, Copenhagen, Denmark, assessment should cover regional threat actors’ capabilities, opportunities and motivation to attack different merchant ships.
The maritime security in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Sea of Oman (the Region) remains challenging with a range of threats to vessels. Those threats coninue to evolve and are likely to be different for subsequent visits to the Region.
It is essential that Masters, Ship Security Officers, and Company Security Officers carry out detailed Threat and Risk Assessments for each voyage to the Region and for each activity within the Region. To assist vessels transiting through the Region the industry organisations named above have produced a recommended transit route.
This transit route consists of 2 Transit Corridors which join at the Strait of Hormuz Traffic Separation Scheme:-
- The Persian Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz Traffic Separation Scheme (the Persian Gulf Transit Corridor), and the
- Sea of Oman to the Strait of Hormuz Traffic Separation Scheme (the Sea of Oman Transit Corridor)
