The Biggest Ships in the Gulf Are Now the Biggest Targets

Supertankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz are increasingly the ones catching attacks, according to gCaptain reporting on the pattern shift in the chokepoint's ongoing ship incidents. The strait remains the artery for roughly a fifth of global oil flow, and the vessels least able to maneuver or avoid trouble are the ones now absorbing the risk.

This is how maritime harassment campaigns mature. Early phases tend to be scattershot -- warning shots, boardings, seizures of smaller or flagged-of-convenience vessels -- testing response and signaling intent without triggering a full insurance-market or naval-escort reaction. Once that phase draws no decisive pushback, the targeting tends to drift toward higher-value, higher-visibility assets, because that's where the leverage actually is: a VLCC carrying two million barrels moves markets and headlines in a way a small coaster never will. Hormuz has seen this cycle before -- tanker war escalations historically start diffuse and concentrate on the assets that maximize pressure per incident.

The SAL read: if your supply chain, insurance book, or customer base touches Gulf crude, freight, or refined products, price in a wider risk premium and slower transit now, not after the next headline forces it on you.