The Iranian Navy has hauled a hijacked Empire Navigation tanker to Bandar Abbas, the port it has repeatedly used in the past to park seized vessels.
In an update provided late on Friday, the Greek owner of the 158,600-dwt St Nikolas (built 2011), formerly known as the Suez Rajan, said it has still not managed to establish contact with its crew of 18 Filipino seafarers and one Greek cadet officer.
“The satellite communications system has been disabled by the captors,” the company said.
Stamatis Molaris-led Empire estimates, based on the vessel’s last known position, that the St Nikolas is anchored near Bandar Abbas.
That is in line with Iranian reports on Thursday, according to which the ship would be brought to an Iranian port to be pass into the custody of judicial authorities.
The ship still has all the 145,000 tonnes of crude on board that it was carrying from Basrah, Iraq, to Aliaga, Turkey on behalf of Turkish state energy company Tupras.
Armed Iranian forces boarded the ship by helicopter early on Thursday, in reprisal for its owner’s cooperation with US authorities that seized the Iranian oil it was carrying last year.
Empire said it has contacted all relevant international authorities over the incident.
The safety of the ship’s crew, however, remains a paramount concern, it added.
A mental and psychological support service has been set up for the seafarers’ families, with whom it remains in constant touch, Empire said.
The seizure of the vessel adds tension in Middle Eastern waters already troubled by Iran-backed Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea against commercial ships associated with Israel and its Western backers in the war in Gaza.
Tehran has a history of detaining ships in retaliation for actions against it by the US or others. Another pair of Greek suezmaxes it detained last year were led to Bandar Abbas as well.
