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IMO Mourns 14 Seafarers Killed in Hormuz Conflict, Launches Evacuation for 11,000 Stranded Mariners
IMO Mourns 14 Seafarers Killed in Hormuz Conflict, Launches Evacuation for 11,000 Stranded Mariners
Strait fully reopened to commercial vessels as Iran-U.S. peace deal takes hold
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News | LAGOS, Wednesday, June 24, 2026
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has confirmed the deaths of 14 seafarers during the months-long conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, and announced the immediate activation of an evacuation plan for more than 11,000 mariners still stranded in the region following the conclusion of a peace agreement between Iran and the United States.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez made the disclosures in a statement issued on Tuesday, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Tehran and Washington, which formally ended hostilities that had paralysed one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints.
Dominguez described the peace agreement as “a decisive step towards restoring maritime security,” adding that the months of conflict had inflicted hardship on thousands of innocent seafarers and generated severe disruptions to global trade flows. He paid tribute to the 14 mariners who lost their lives, noting that their service in support of international commerce would not be forgotten.
On the evacuation programme, the IMO chief said the large-scale operation would be conducted in close coordination with Iran, Oman, other coastal states in the Gulf region, the United States, and the broader maritime industry. He confirmed that the organisation had secured the necessary safety guarantees and verified conditions for safe navigation before committing to the plan.
“We remain fully committed to ensuring the safety of seafarers and the continuity of global trade,” Dominguez stated.
In a separate development, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, announced on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, with no tolls or transit charges in effect. He indicated the arrangement would be reviewed after 60 days, subject to the outcome of ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States.
Bahreini confirmed that the first round of talks on implementing the Islamabad MoU — signed in Switzerland last week — has already concluded. He added that under the terms of the agreement, previously frozen Iranian assets would be unfrozen by the United States, with Iran retaining full discretion over how those assets are deployed.
The Iranian envoy firmly dismissed claims that Tehran had agreed to readmit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), describing any such reports as inaccurate and noting that discussions on Iran’s nuclear activities were reserved for a later stage of diplomacy.
NIGERIA WATCH
Analysis and context for Nigerian maritime stakeholders
Hormuz Ceasefire Lifts a Cloud Over Nigeria’s Trade Arteries — But Vigilance Remains Essential
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz without transit charges, and the IMO’s activation of a seafarer evacuation plan, mark a significant turning point for global shipping — and for Nigeria’s maritime sector in particular.
For months, the Hormuz crisis cast a long shadow over Nigerian trade. The strait handles approximately 20 per cent of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, and the disruptions triggered freight rate spikes, cargo rerouting, extended voyage times, and elevated war risk insurance premiums that rippled directly into the cost of imports arriving at Apapa, Tin Can Island, and Onne ports. Nigerian importers — already burdened by naira depreciation and high port charges — bore a disproportionate share of the fallout.
The human cost, now officially confirmed at 14 seafarers killed, is a sobering reminder that maritime trade is not abstract. It is carried on the backs of men and women at sea, many of whom are Nigerians. The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and all employers of seafarers in Nigeria should take note: Nigerian seafarers deployed on vessels transiting high-risk zones deserve robust welfare frameworks, updated war risk coverage guidance, and clear emergency communication protocols from their manning agencies.
The evacuation of 11,000 stranded seafarers — a complex, multinational logistics operation — also underscores the importance of Nigeria deepening its engagement with IMO frameworks. As Nigeria pushes to grow its fleet under the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) and the National Shipping Policy, the welfare of Nigerian mariners in international waters must feature prominently in NIMASA’s bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.
For freight forwarders, terminal operators, and importers, the normalization of the Strait of Hormuz should gradually ease pressure on oil tanker availability and energy cargo costs. The Dangote Refinery, which depends on crude imports for feedstock supplementation during ramp-up, stands to benefit from reduced tanker hire rates and more predictable crude delivery schedules as the Gulf stabilises.
However, the 60-day review clause on the toll-free transit arrangement signals continued uncertainty. Nigerian shipowners and cargo interests should monitor developments closely, maintain updated contingency routing plans, and engage their war risk insurers on how the ceasefire affects existing policy terms.
The Hormuz crisis is not yet fully behind us — but its partial resolution is, for now, a welcome development for Nigeria’s ports, its seafarers, and its import-dependent economy.
Waterways News | www.waterwaysnews.ng | Maritime & Blue Economy Reporting from Nigeria
Two More Tankers Struck in Strait of Hormuz as Attack Count Hits Five in a Week
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Two more tankers have been hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, leaving two seafarers with minor injuries and pushing the number of reported attacks or security incidents against commercial vessels in the waterway to at least five since 16 September.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said an inbound tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile on Monday. Two crew members sustained minor injuries, but the vessel stayed under its own power and continued to its next port, with no environmental impact reported.
Hours later, UKMTO issued a second alert after an outbound LPG tanker reported being struck by debris from unknown projectiles. All crew were reported safe and the vessel also continued its voyage. Authorities are investigating both incidents, and UKMTO has not attributed either attack to a specific actor.
The two strikes build on a Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) advisory covering three earlier attacks between 16 and 18 September, one of which saw a tanker’s hull breached by a projectile, sparking a fire. JMIC continues to rate the threat level in the strait as “severe,” citing a high likelihood of deliberate hostile action and pointing to a pattern of harassment by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — drone overflights, surveillance of merchant vessels and VHF hailing, alongside the direct attacks.
Traffic through the chokepoint remains sharply depressed. Only 17 commodity vessels were visibly transiting over the weekend, down from 37 the week before and against a pre-war daily average of roughly 125. That figure excludes vessels sailing with their AIS transponders switched off, and JMIC notes a persistent gap between visible and actual traffic.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders, the Hormuz crisis is no longer a distant Gulf story. It is a cost line. Every fresh escalation feeds directly into the war-risk insurance premiums and freight rates that Nigerian importers, refiners and shipping agents ultimately absorb, since global tanker and container capacity pulled off the Hormuz route tightens supply elsewhere and pushes rates up across long-haul trades, including those serving West African ports.
The renewed attacks also sharpen the stakes around Nigeria’s push for a stronger voice at the IMO Council table and its broader blue-economy diplomacy under Minister Adegboyega Oyetola. A sustained Gulf disruption is exactly the kind of systemic shock that tests whether Nigeria’s seat translates into influence over how global shipping risk, insurance and rerouting decisions are made, rather than Nigeria simply absorbing the downstream cost.
Locally, the episode is a reminder of the layered nature of “maritime security” as a policy word: the Deep Blue Project and Gulf of Guinea security architecture address piracy and armed robbery close to home, but Nigeria’s ports and shippers remain exposed to security failures thousands of kilometres away in the Gulf.
Waterways News will continue tracking how the Hormuz situation feeds into freight cost pressure at Nigerian ports and NIMASA’s public messaging on the issue.
Blue Economy
Oyetola Confirms 7,059 Nigerian Seafarers Placed Onboard Vessels, Orders NIMASA to Fast-Track CVFF Disbursement
Oyetola Confirms 7,059 Nigerian Seafarers Placed Onboard Vessels, Orders NIMASA to Fast-Track CVFF Disbursement
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, says 7,059 Nigerian seafarers have so far been placed onboard vessels to acquire seatime experience, part of what he described as the Federal Government’s broader push to build a competitive indigenous maritime workforce.
The Minister, in a statement issued through his Special Adviser, Dr Bolaji Akinola, at the weekend, also directed the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to work more closely with the 12 approved Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) to accelerate disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to qualified Nigerian shipowners.
According to the statement, NIMASA has so far received 92 applications under the CVFF framework, of which 20 have been forwarded to the PLIs and one has been reviewed and cleared for approval. Oyetola said the ship acquisition initiative could generate more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs across shipyards, marine engineering firms and maritime logistics companies, while deepening Nigeria’s domestic ship-owning and shipbuilding base.
The Minister linked the disbursement push to President Bola Tinubu’s authorisation to unlock financing long owed to domestic maritime operators, framing it as central to realising the economic potential of Nigeria’s blue economy.
On manpower development, Oyetola disclosed that 222 seafarers had been trained free of charge in basic and advanced professional courses, while 333 cadets completed academic training and were awarded degrees. Under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), 135 cadets have completed the programme and obtained their Certificates of Competency (CoC).
He said the interventions reflect government’s commitment to strengthening indigenous maritime capacity so that Nigerians can benefit directly from opportunities created by the blue economy.
Nigeria Watch
The seafarer numbers are worth celebrating, but the more consequential line in Oyetola’s statement is the one about CVFF: 92 applications received, 20 forwarded to PLIs, and just one, only one is reviewed and cleared for approval. That ratio is the real story.
Waterways News has tracked the CVFF disbursement saga for years, and the pattern here is familiar: an announcement of “significant progress” that, on closer reading, describes a process still largely stuck at the application stage. Nigerian shipowners have waited over two decades for meaningful access to this fund, first established in 2003. A single approved application, even framed as forward momentum, does not yet amount to disbursement, and it is disbursement, not directives to NIMASA and the PLIs, that shipowners can take to the bank.
The seafarer placement and training figures are a genuine bright spot and speak to real capacity-building through NIMASA’s cadetship and NSDP schemes. But they sit somewhat apart from the CVFF question.
Training seafarers builds the workforce; it does not put Nigerian-owned vessels on the water for that workforce to crew. Until the CVFF pipeline moves from “20 applications forwarded” to actual funds reaching qualified shipowners, Nigeria’s ambition to grow an indigenous shipowning fleet — the same ambition the Minister invoked in citing 30,000 potential jobs — remains aspirational.
Waterways News will continue to press for concrete disbursement timelines and named beneficiaries under the CVFF, rather than accept process updates as a substitute for delivery.
Blue Economy
Navy, Fisheries Department Arrest 34 Suspects, Seize Three Vessels in Renewed War on Illegal Fishing
Navy, Fisheries Department Arrest 34 Suspects, Seize Three Vessels in Renewed War on Illegal Fishing
By Raymond Gold | Waterways News
The Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Nigerian Navy have struck a fresh blow against illegal fishing in Nigerian waters, seizing three vessels and arresting 34 suspects in a coordinated three-day sweep.
The operation, codenamed Operation Abo Eja 2026, was designed to tighten surveillance and enforcement against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, one of the most persistent threats to Nigeria’s marine resources and the livelihoods that depend on them.
Among those arrested were 24 Nigerians, three Ghanaians and three Chinese nationals, underlining the increasingly foreign and cross-border character of the illegal trawling networks operating off the country’s coast.
The Western Naval Command led the offshore muscle of the operation, deploying a naval ship, a helicopter and Special Boat Service personnel, while the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture supplied technical and regulatory backing to ensure the arrests translate into prosecutable enforcement action.
Deputy Director at the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Adeleke Adegoke, said the operation underscored the need for sharper intelligence gathering and better information sharing between agencies to make future raids more targeted and effective.
Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Abdullahi Mustapha, described the exercise as proof of effective inter-agency coordination, adding that it would strengthen ongoing efforts to safeguard Nigeria’s marine resources.
Nigeria Watch
Operation Abo Eja 2026 lands squarely inside a theme this desk has tracked for months: the steady erosion of Nigerian control over its own coastal waters. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is not a fringe nuisance — it is a direct assault on artisanal fishing communities and the small-scale operators who make up the bulk of Nigeria’s blue economy workforce, even as foreign trawlers, often flagged or crewed out of Asia, continue to test the limits of enforcement.
The presence of Chinese nationals among those arrested will not surprise close observers of Nigeria’s fisheries sector, where foreign-linked trawling operations have long been accused of over-exploiting stocks with little regard for licensing or seasonal restrictions. It also reinforces a broader pattern this publication has flagged repeatedly: foreign dominance of Nigerian coastal waters remains an unresolved policy failure, one that recurs regardless of which agency is nominally in charge.
The joint Navy-fisheries model deployed here — naval assets providing muscle, the fisheries department providing regulatory teeth — is also the same architecture underpinning the Deep Blue Project and broader Gulf of Guinea security efforts championed by the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy under Minister Adegboyega Oyetola. Deputy Director Adegoke’s call for better intelligence sharing is a familiar refrain in Nigerian maritime enforcement: the hardware and manpower for these operations increasingly exist, but the surveillance and prosecutorial follow-through that would deter repeat offenders has historically lagged.
For the informal and small-scale operators this desk covers closely, the real test will not be the headline arrest numbers but what happens next — whether the 34 suspects face meaningful prosecution, whether the three seized vessels are forfeited rather than quietly released, and whether Operation Abo Eja 2026 becomes a sustained enforcement posture rather than another one-off show of force.
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