Shipping employers and unions still consider Hormuz a war zone

Unions and shipping employers said in a statement on Wednesday that they will continue to designate the Strait of Hormuz as a warlike operations area until at least July 9, maintaining double pay for seafarers in the area despite the fragile truce.

The status only covers ships whose companies are signatories of the International Bargaining Forum (IBF)’s labor agreements – around 15,000 vessels worldwide, according to the IBF.

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Seafarers covered by the labor agreement working on ships in the strait and its surrounding waters get paid double and have the right to refuse to sail into the area and request repatriation at the company’s expense, increasing costs for shipping companies.

“This decision recognizes the continuing and significant risk to life and the rapidly evolving situation in the area,” said the joint statement from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG), which represents maritime industry employers.

The IBF’s decision to extend the warlike operations status comes as two vessels were attacked since a memorandum of understanding was agreed to by the US and Iran.

The two warring parties will hold on Wednesday indirect technical talks in Doha on their deal aimed at ending the war.

The strait was first designated a warlike operations area by the IBF on March 5, four days after the first attack on vessels attempting to cross the strait.

Merchant vessels have been heavily affected by the Middle East conflict since March 1, when Iran shut down the vital passage in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes.

At least 14 seafarers have been killed and more than 40 ships attacked during the conflict.

The most recent strikes occurred on Thursday and Saturday last week, prompting the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to suspend a short-lived plan to evacuate the 11,000 seafarers still stranded in the Gulf.

“Had the ships not been struck on two separate days since last Thursday, and had entries and exits continued smoothly, it is likely this week could have seen a change,” a source familiar with the discussions told AFP.

The joint committee responsible for determining the warlike operations designation will return to weekly review meetings, the statement said.

Weekly meetings were paused at the beginning of May when it was clear the situation in the strait was not improving, the source told AFP.

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