GoKawiilWhen conflict disrupts global shipping routes like the Strait of Hormuz, vessels don’t always leave. Sometimes, they can’t. Across key maritime corridors in the Gulf region, ships have become stranded—some due to escalating hostilities, others because of a less visible failure: a global shipping system where ownership, regulation, and responsibility often do not align.
For the people working on board, that failure can mean being unable to leave.
A seafarer from Kerala, PK Vijay had taken out a loan for what he believed would be stable work at sea. His promised monthly salary was meant to support his family back home. “I was told I would be working on a ship,” Vijay says. “But when I got here, I was assigned to a scrap vessel.” He was told he would be transferred to another vessel.
Months passed. The transfer he was promised never came. According to Vijay, both the agent who facilitated his employment and the ship’s owner eventually stopped responding to his calls. More than a year later, he says he has not been paid.
“I have finished my contract, but have not been paid a single rupee. It has been 14 months. And they won’t even let us leave,” he says.
The two-member crew of the Mahakal has not heard from the owner in over a year, nor been paid for their labor. Without an official “sign-off” letter from the ship owner, Vijay says he cannot legally disembark or return home.
Caught in the System
Since the start of the conflict in the region, many civilian ships have found themselves caught in the crossfire. This has been compounded by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, essentially trapping ships in their positions and vulnerable to attack.
For crews on board, immobility carries risk. “Thankfully, there have been no attacks or incidents close to us,” Vijay says. “But we are living in fear.”
Since the start of joint US and Israeli attacks on Iran, around 1,900 commercial vessels have been stranded in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, particularly in the Arabian Gulf. INFOGRAPHIC- GETTY IMAGES
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