Eighty ships were attacked in the Strait of Ormuz and at least 22 crew members killed since the start of the conflict between the US and Iran at the end of February, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
© Lusa
16/09/2026
by
Lusa
At least four deaths are added to this balance in the latest attack by the Shiite Shiite Huthis rebels on a ship on August 11 in the Red Sea.
IMO also estimates that dozens of sailors died in the Black Sea and Azov Sea following attacks by Russia and Ukraine on ships, although it is difficult to verify the exact numbers.
The Secretary-General of the organisation, Arsenio Dominguez, warned that geopolitical tensions are having a major impact on the maritime transport sector, reflecting on supply networks and the global economy.
“ We are coming to a point where these conflicts are being used as a pretext to attack innocent merchant ships and sailors,” he said during a meeting of the IMO Subcommittee on Cargo and Container Transport, which is taking place this week in London.
Cited in a communiqué, it urged representatives to intervene with their respective countries “so that this issue can be addressed within the framework of the United Nations” in order to “approach the root causes and find solutions”.
Dominguez reiterated that IMO is available to “contribute to viable solutions for the maritime transport sector that Member States can present at technical and operational level”.
The Subcommittee for the Transport of Cargoes and Containers meets until Friday to discuss security issues related to the shipping of dangerous goods, bulk cargo and containers.