PANAMA CITY: Around 1,500 ships and their crews are trapped in the Gulf due to the Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the secretary general of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said in Panama on Thursday.
The war in the Middle East, unleashed February 28 by Israel and the United States against Iran, provoked reprisals from Tehran across the region and a shipping blockade in Hormuz, a crucial global trade route.
“Right now, we have approximately 20,000 crewmen and around 1
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1,500 ships trapped is an enormous number. The global supply chain is going to feel this for months.
The IMO needs to step up its mediation. This is becoming a humanitarian and economic crisis.
Pakistan’s imports were already facing delays. This will only make things worse for prices back home.
Imagine being a seafarer stuck on one of those ships for weeks. The mental toll must be unimaginable.