IMO Secretary General Rules Out Hardening Merchant Ships Against Missiles
Commercial crews are not trained for combat and commercial hulls were never designed for it, Arsenio Dominguez said
The International Maritime Organization has rejected the idea of commercial shipping reinforcing its vessels to survive missile or drone attack, in the clearest statement yet on where the industry draws the line between trade and war.
Asked during a panel session at SMM whether it was time for shipping to take matters into its own hands and harden its ships, IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez was unequivocal. No, he said, we cannot. This is commercial shipping, its seafarers are not trained for combat, and commercial ships are not designed to operate in that sector. Turning the merchant fleet into part of a global military force, he added, is not what shipping is about.
Dominguez also repeated the organization's standing guidance for ships not to attempt to cross the Strait of Hormuz, and said he was still trying to understand the circumstances in which some owners are taking that risk. The advice has held for months while the traffic count in the waterway has stayed at a fraction of its pre-conflict level.
John Denholm, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, took the same line from the commercial side. Responsible shipowners do not route their vessels into danger, he said, adding that very few ships are going through Hormuz and that without seafarers the industry has nothing.
Denholm was blunter about the military arithmetic. There had been a belief that if Iran shut the Strait, it would be reopened within days, he said. It has now been six months. The problem is asymmetric: an adversary can be met with a million-dollar missile, but not when the incoming threat is thousands of $15,000 drones. On that reading, he said, military force is unlikely to open Hormuz, and only peace will.
He was more optimistic about a quieter concern, the erosion of basic skills in a heavily electronic bridge environment. Navigating without GPS is still taught as an essential competence for a master, he said, and while there is a danger the habit fades with time, watchkeepers remain qualified to do it. He described being aboard a vessel a couple of years ago when the GPS screen went black, and the bridge team handling it.
The position leaves owners where they were. Hardening is off the table as an industry answer, escorts and convoys remain a state matter, and the practical choice on the Strait is still routing. Cargo through the waterway remains more than 90% below its pre-conflict level, as set out in the six-month volume picture.
