- On 7 November 2026, a US aircraft struck the stern of the bulk carrier Huda with precision-guided munitions. According to Centcom, the vessel was attempting to breach the blockade of Iranian ports. During the same week, tankers and other vessels were attacked in the Persian Gulf and off Oman, killing a Filipino and an Indian seafarer.
- In the Black Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry claims to have attacked two container ships in Odesa and Chornomorsk and a dry cargo vessel at sea. Human remains have been found in Varna aboard the chemical tanker Wine Trader, which was struck by a drone on 15 October. DNA testing will be carried out to identify the victims.
- In the Black Sea, hull war risk insurance premiums have reached up to 20% of a vessel's value, compared with 7–9% in the Gulf. From 9 November, CMA CGM is applying a surcharge of $35 per TEU on shipments to and from the Black Sea, while 141 tankers shuttle between Gulf terminals and the Gulf of Oman.
The first ten days of November 2026 have seen renewed attacks on merchant shipping in two of the world's most dangerous maritime areas: the Strait of Hormuz, amid the conflict between the United States and Iran, and the Black Sea, where the war between Russia and Ukraine has spread to commercial vessels. In the first area, on 7 November 2026, a US military aircraft struck the stern of the bulk carrier Huda in the Gulf of Oman with precision-guided munitions. According to US Central Command (Centcom), the civilian crew had ignored repeated warnings and made several attempts to breach the blockade imposed on Iran. Before the attack, US forces had ordered the crew to leave the sections of the vessel that were to be targeted, as the ship attempted to leave the region after calling at an Iranian port. The Huda is a 24,993-deadweight-tonne bulk carrier, 159 metres long, built in 1999, flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis and reportedly owned by Turkey's Embrace Shipping Management. Centcom provided no information on the condition of the crew or the extent of the damage. Since 14 July, when it reinstated the blockade on all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports, Centcom says it has forced 147 merchant ships to turn back and disabled five that refused to comply, after destroying ten Iranian tankers. It also estimates that the blockade has prevented Iran from exporting more than $25 billion (approximately €21.5 billion) worth of crude oil.
During the same period, attacks attributable to Iran continued in the Strait of Hormuz. On 6 November, the master of a tanker reported an explosion at the waterline on the port side, 16 nautical miles east of Khasab, Oman. The vessel was able to continue its voyage under its own power and the crew was unharmed. The British agency UKMTO reported that on the evening of 7 November, at approximately 19:20 UTC, another tanker caught fire around eight miles north-west of Khasab and its crew was evacuated. Open-source analysts provisionally identified the vessel as the Navig8 Messi, an ADNOC-linked product tanker previously attacked by Iranian drones in August. An hour later, an unidentified projectile struck another tanker leaving the Strait, causing no injuries. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy maintains that the tankers struck mines while using unauthorised routes and announced on 8 November that a third vessel had caught fire. Since the beginning of November, eight vessels have been attacked by Iran in the Strait and the Gulf.
Two of the week's attacks were fatal. On 2 November, the Al Jusufi, an Indian-flagged motor-sailing vessel travelling from Al Hamriya in the United Arab Emirates to Porbandar in Gujarat, was struck by an unidentified airborne object near Limah, Oman. One Indian seafarer was killed and the Omani Coast Guard rescued the other 13 crew members. India's Ministry of External Affairs reports that 23 Indian nationals have been killed since the conflict began in February, including 15 seafarers. On 5 November, at 23:20 UTC, two projectiles struck the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Velos Sapphire, which was sailing in ballast towards Sitra, Bahrain, approximately 50 miles north of the Qatari coast. The crew extinguished the fire and the vessel, managed by Greece's Velos Tankers, was taken to Khalifa Bin Salman Port for damage assessment. One of the 22 Filipino seafarers on board was killed, while the Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers has urged shipowners to keep their vessels out of the Persian Gulf. Elsewhere in the Gulf of Oman, the UAE Coast Guard rescued 22 crew members from a burning cargo ship.
The conflict around Hormuz has reshaped crude oil transport. According to BRS Shipbrokers, 141 tankers are operating shuttle services between terminals inside the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman or India's west coast, where their cargoes are transferred to other vessels. Together with the grey fleet, these shuttle operations have reduced the number of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) effectively available to the conventional market to 639, equivalent to 68% of the active fleet. Shuttle turnaround times have fallen to 14 days from 25 in August, but ship-to-ship transfers can take weeks, and crude oil loaded inside the Gulf has traded at discounts of up to $45 per barrel compared with delivery in the Gulf of Oman. BRS believes that even a peace agreement would not dismantle these networks, as Middle Eastern producers now regard tanker fleets as strategic energy infrastructure. In the Gulf, hull war risk insurance premiums have fallen to 7–9%, with some cover available at 5%, despite more than 110 incidents and estimated claims of around $2.5 billion (approximately €2.2 billion), according to Lloyd's List.
Meanwhile, Qatar's diplomatic efforts are continuing. Doha has presented the United States and Iran with a two-stage, 48-hour plan. On the first day, Washington would lift the blockade and release part of the $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, while Tehran would allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors access to damaged nuclear sites. On the second day, Iran would reopen the Strait. On 2 November, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that Tehran, at Doha's request, had shortened its own plan to two days, although it still postpones the issue of inspections. US Vice-President JD Vance has sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who said he had read it but had not yet replied, describing the change in tone as positive. Rezaei nevertheless reiterated that Iran would maintain its blockade of the Strait until its conditions were met, starting with the release of frozen assets.
Tensions have also risen in the Black Sea, where, on 8 November, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed responsibility for overnight attacks on a container ship which, according to Moscow, was carrying weapons and equipment into the port of Odesa, and a second container ship in the port of Chornomorsk, which the same source alleged was transporting dual-use goods into Ukraine. A third vessel, a bulk carrier, was reportedly struck south-west of Odesa. The ships have not yet been identified and there is no confirmed information on possible casualties. On 7 November, prosecutors in Varna, Bulgaria, announced that severely damaged human remains had been found while debris was being removed from a vessel undergoing repairs, and ordered DNA testing. The prosecutor's office did not name the vessel, but the San Marino flag matches that of the Wine Trader, a chemical tanker struck on 15 October approximately 24 kilometres south-east of Sulina, at the mouth of the Danube. Following the attack, seven of its 12 crew members were reported missing and five had been rescued.
Since the beginning of October, at least nine merchant ships have been struck by drones off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria, leaving 34 people dead or missing. Among them is the Contship Jet, managed by Greece's Contships Management and chartered by ZIM, which was struck by naval drones while sailing from Haifa to Constanța with 421 containers on board. The attack occurred on 28 October in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, but outside its territorial waters. The 1,267-TEU vessel sank around midnight on 29 October, approximately 12 hours after the attack. All 18 seafarers, 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, were rescued, and responsibility for the attack has yet to be established.
The situation is causing a sharp rise in hull war risk insurance premiums, which have reached 20%, while some shipowners are challenging orders to call at Romanian and Bulgarian ports. This rate has been quoted for some vessels bound for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal at Novorossiysk, although most quotations remain lower. On 16 September, the London insurance market's Joint War Committee had already extended the risk area to cover the entire Black Sea, excluding the territorial waters of non-belligerent coastal states. From 9 November, CMA CGM is applying a war risk surcharge of $35 per TEU on shipments to and from Black Sea countries, including those routed through Constanța, Varna, Burgas and Poti.
Antonio Illariuzzi
