The United Arab Emirates played down a collision involving two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, blaming navigational errors. But the incident raised worries about security through the passageway, a choke point for ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf.
The accident, which occurred in the Gulf of Oman, comes amid increased reports of GPS jamming of ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
An oil tanker, Adalynn, collided with another oil tanker, Front Eagle, causing “a small oil spill,” the Emirati government said Wednesday in a statement. Twenty-four crew members of the Adalynn were evacuated from the site of the collision, about 24 nautical miles off the U.A.E. coast, the U.A.E. National Guard said. No injuries were reported among crew members of either vessel.
Frontline, a shipping company based in Cypress that owns the Front Eagle, said in a statement that a fire broke out on the Front Eagle’s deck and that the incident was “a navigational incident and not related to the current regional conflict.”
But the collision came as Iran and Israel have accused each other of endangering international maritime security and the global energy supply chain. About 1,000 vessels have been affected by GPS interference since the onset of increased tensions in the Middle East, according to Windward, a maritime analytics firm.
Around one-third of the volume of crude oil exported by sea and 20 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas, another vital commodity, flow through the Strait of Hormuz.
Jean-Charles Gordon, senior director of ship tracking at Kpler, a research firm, said that hundreds, if not thousands, of vessels have experienced navigational interference since Friday, when Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran.
“The latitude and longitudes they’re receiving are completely false,” Mr. Gordon said, noting that marine traffic data showed ship positions that were abnormal and inaccurate. He said that military-grade spoofers interfere with the location services of ships, leading their navigational systems to indicate that they are somewhere where they are not. This can increase the chance of collision, but ships also have other systems for navigation, he said.
“It’s electronic warfare, essentially,” Mr. Gordon said. “If the conflict continues, we expect these interferences to continue as well.”
Greenpeace, the environmental group, said that satellite imagery showed a large amount of oil stretching up to 1,500 hectares, or nearly six square miles, from the site.
“This is just one of many dangerous incidents to take place in the past years,” said Farah Al Hattab, a campaigner at Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, adding that oil spills endanger marine life and can lead to widespread environmental damage.
Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics.
Ismaeel Naar is an international reporter for The Times, covering the Gulf states. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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