Stena Bulk – the owner of a tanker dramatically seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Friday – has still to receive permission to visit the captive crew.
The shipowner revealed it was still in limbo as it dismissed suggestions from Tehran the 50,000-dwt Stena Impero (built 2018) has been in collision with a fishing vessel before being stormed by masked commandos.
Stena Bulk’s latest comments came as maritime union Nautilus International joined the industry chorus calling for British ships to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, where the UK-flagged tanker had been taken.
“Stena Bulk awaits a decision to the formal request to the Iranian Authorities for permission to visit the Stena Impero and verify the safety and well-being of our 23 much valued crew members held since July 19,” the shipowner said in a statement this afternoon.
There are 23 seafarers on the Stena Impero from India, Russia, Latvia and the Philippines.
Pictures of the crew onboard the ship have been widely distributed in the press since the drama unfolded, having been first released to Iranian state media.
Stena Bulk also stressed the ship had made all the necessary notifications to authorities to transit the Strait of Hormuz and was operating in “full compliance with all international maritime regulations”.
“At the time of the seizure, the vessel was within the inbound traffic separation scheme and out-with Iranian territorial waters with all required navigational equipment, including transponders, fully functioning, in compliance with maritime regulations,” it said.
“We can confirm that we are not aware of, and nor is there any evidence of a collision involving the Stena Impero.”
Iranian officials said this weekend the tanker had been taken after colliding with an Iranian fishing vessel and ignoring a distress call.
However, it has since acknowledged the ship was captured in retaliation for the continued detention of the 301,000-dwt Grace 1 (built 1997) in Gibraltar.
British marines had taken control of the VLCC earlier this month amid suspicion it was shipping Iranian crude to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.
As TradeWinds has reported, tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has fallen since attacks on the 110,000-dwt Front Altair (built 2016) and 27,000-dwt Kokuka Courageous in June.
Iran was widely blamed internationally for those attacks and hostilities between the country and Britain have been simmering since the Grace 1 was detained.
Nautilus said today it was pushing for a meeting with the UK Warlike Operations Area Committee in London to consider the designation of an area of high risk to shipping and seafarers.
The union stressed the need for a de-escalation of tension in the area and for governments to use “maximum efforts” to have the Stena Impero crew released.
Mark Dickinson, general secretary of Nautilus, said: “We offer our support to the international effort to have the crew released safely and we pledge our support to the international efforts to ensure that all seafarers are protected from aggression wherever that risk is evident.”
