As military tensions between the United States and Iran rise, global shipping companies that must pass through the Strait of Hormuz are taking collateral damage. They are facing disruptions to operations due to the possibility that Iran could blockade the strait, and their expense burdens, including insurance premiums, are also increasing.
According to foreign media on the 24th, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz for several hours on the 17th (local time) on the grounds of military drills. The Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, is a key maritime route for shipping companies. Twenty percent of the world's crude oil tankers pass through it.
Windward, a U.S. maritime AI company, reported that due to Iran's electronic warfare (Electronic Warfare·EW) drills held this month, 1,100 vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz suffered GPS spoofing to their satellite navigation systems (GPS). This figure includes all vessels operating with AIS (automatic identification system) on—large vessels as well as small cargo ships, oilfield support vessels and tugs—and accounts for 90.2% of all transiting vessels.
Electronic warfare refers to military activities that control electromagnetic waves to disrupt or attack an adversary's communications, radar and other electronic equipment, and to collect information.
The affected vessels were reportedly exposed to so-called "spoofing" attacks in which coordinates are recorded tens of kilometers away from their actual positions. The jamming radius of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) expanded up to 100 kilometers from the center of the Strait of Hormuz.
As a result, cutting-edge ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz recently have abandoned autopilot and are navigating relying only on visual checks and radar. The more advanced the ship's systems, the greater the risk of malfunctions due to system conflicts.
With ships giving up autopilot and reducing speed, fuel expenses are also surging. It is said that a ship's fuel consumption increases as speed drops.
Shipping companies now also have to pay insurers a war risk additional premium (AWRP) when passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Applying the record high war risk additional premium of 0.7%, a 150 billion won ship would bear about 1 billion won in insurance premiums per voyage (a serial number indicating the sequence of operations in which a ship completes a full circuit of its designated route).
Korea's shipping industry has also entered an emergency response posture. HMM is applying its in-house manual equivalent to "security level 2" when passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Energy-focused carriers such as SK Shipping and Pan Ocean are operating a 24-hour hotline with the Cheonghae Unit to receive naval escort support.
A shipping industry official said, "Global insurers reflect war risk additional premiums in insurance premiums even if an actual war does not break out," adding, "This year, the geopolitical risks in the Strait of Hormuz will be a variable that determines ocean freight rates."