Breaking · News 61
– This is the script of CNBC's financial news report for China's CCTV on October 07, 2026. Data from the Joint Maritime Information Center, established by a multi national naval coalition to provide safety advice to commercial vessels, shows that nearly 20 commercial ships, mostly oil tankers, were attacked over the past month while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, and offshore Oman. International Maritime Organization figures further reveal that since February 28th, at least 93 vessels have suffered attacks, resulting in the deaths of 24 crew members.
Such heightened security risks are forcing shipowners to offer elevated risk premiums to retain crew members. According to a report by the Financial Times, tanker captains navigating the Strait of Hormuz can now earn monthly compensation reaching up to 100,000 dollars, alongside an additional 50,000 dollar bonus per transit. Rank and file crew members are receiving four to six times their typical pay.
By comparison, standard monthly salaries average roughly 15,000 dollars for captains and just 1,500 dollars for ordinary crew members. Yet higher crew compensation is far from the only cost burden facing shipowners crossing high risk waters. Escalating insurance premiums and rising bunker fuel expenses are placing additional operational pressure on tanker fleets.
At present, tanker owners transiting the Strait of Hormuz must pay single trip hull insurance premiums equivalent to 6% to 10% of the vessel's overall value. For a Very Large Crude Carrier, a single voyage premium can top 20 million dollars. Meanwhile, latest market figures indicate heavy fuel oil commonly used by these carriers has reached 686 dollars per metric ton, up 67% from the same period last year.
COREY RANSLEM Chief Executive Officer Dryad Global "Insurance usually is trailing behind the situation, it could take potentially weeks or months for that to happen. From the perspective of what we understand, it is where crews do not want to transit through the higher risk regions, so it is, I think, becoming a little bit more difficult from just the brief." Currently, London Brent crude futures, a primary international oil benchmark, continue to hover around 100 dollars per barrel, posting a year to date gain of over 60%. Industry analysts observe that if market participants believed crude transport could permanently rely on rerouting, alternative ports, and emergency reserve releases, oil prices should have pulled back meaningfully.
However, so long as shipping bottlenecks persist, the physical crude market must rely on temporary workarounds to sustain flow. With both producing and consuming nations approaching the limits of their available policy tools, operational buffers are rapidly narrowing. DAVID FYFE Chief Economist| Argus "The industry up to now has been able to rely on several things to try and work around this shortage of crude coming out of the Strait of Hormuz.
The trouble is that inventory levels are becoming very very tight, and if this disruption worsens through the end of the year, we could see stocks getting close to minimum operating levels, which would be incredibly bullish for prices."
Source: CNBC
