Iran's Hormuz Blacklist Reaches 77 Ships and Now Warns Insurers and Class Societies

The self-declared Persian Gulf Strait Authority has published a second update to its blacklist of shipping, taking the list to 77 vessels identified by name and IMO number. The list held 45 ships at the end of August and 56 at the start of this month, so 21 have been added in the latest iteration and 32 since the original publication three weeks ago.

The newest element is not the count but the reach. Alongside the existing warning to owners and operators, the group wrote that "insurance companies, P&I clubs, and classification societies are warned to refrain from providing services to these vessels to avoid consequences arising from dealing with them." It did not say what those consequences would be, or under what circumstances any of its threatened penalties would be applied.

For vessels themselves the stated penalties are fines, detention or confiscation on any attempt to transit the strait. Ships that cooperate with listed tonnage through ship-to-ship transfers or transhipment can also be designated, a provision that extends the exposure well beyond the named hulls and has already caught tankers used for shuttle operations outside the Gulf.

The designations lean heavily towards crude oil tankers but run across LPG, LNG, product tankers and bulk carriers. Vessels operated by Saudi Arabia's Bahri and the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company appear on it. Owners and operators caught in the first round included ADNOC Logistics & Services, Navig8, Sinokor, Stolt-Nielsen, Klaveness Combination Carriers, Shipping Corporation of India, Dynacom and GasLog. The authority has previously said that some of the information it publishes was volunteered by members of the public.

There is little sign that the industry is treating the list as binding. Traffic through the strait nevertheless remains very thin, which is more readily explained by the continuing attacks than by the edicts. Preliminary tracking data covering the weekend showed commodity-vessel crossings falling into single figures a day against a ten-day average of 14, with one LPG carrier and one laden tanker recorded outbound across Saturday and Sunday. Ships transiting with AIS switched off would not appear in those counts.

Crude prices have stayed elevated through the exchange. Brent reached $106, while the US benchmark opened at $104 and slipped back to just under $102 during Monday's session. The practical effect for owners, charterers and the service chain behind them is another layer of uncertainty when fixing Gulf business, with no published trigger for enforcement and no indication of how any measure against a class society or a club would work.

This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 16 September 2026.