Prior to an Extraordinary Session of the IMO Council on the Middle East crisis scheduled for March 18–19 in London, the International Maritime Organization has released a briefing document that says roughly 3,200 vessels carrying around 20,000 seafarers are currently confined west of the Strait of Hormuz, reports the gCaptain news platform. The document underlines the scale of disruption to global shipping as attacks on merchant vessels escalate across the Persian Gulf region.
During the two-day meeting starting tomorrow, member states will discuss the rapidly deteriorating security situation affecting shipping in the Arabian Sea, Sea of Oman, and Gulf region.
According to the IMO Secretariat, international shipping was immediately impacted at the start of the crisis, with four confirmed attacks on merchant vessels reported on March 1, 2026, resulting in the deaths of at least two seafarers and one port worker. Attacks have continued in the weeks since, with additional fatalities and serious injuries reported among merchant crews.
The ongoing violence has created conditions where many vessels are unable to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints for energy and commodity trade.
The IMO said the resulting disruption has left thousands of ships waiting west of the strait, with tens of thousands of seafarers effectively stranded aboard vessels as companies and governments assess the risks of attempting a transit through waters increasingly exposed to missile, drone, and explosive-boat attacks.
(Dreamstime map of Strait of Hormuz region)