The M/V MAERSK TIGRIS and Iran: A Developing Story in the Strait of Hormuz
Ocean News
News agencies are widely reporting the intercepting of the M/V MAERSK TIGRIS on Tuesday, presumably by the Naval force of of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Reuters reports that an unnamed US Pentagon official confirmed that the incident occurred at 0905 GMT.
The vessel was directed to the Bandar Abbas Port on the Southern Coast of Iran. Iranian state-sponsored news agencies initially reported that the cargo ship was American. However, the Pentagon official confirmed that the Marshal Island-flagged vessel had no US citizens aboard. A Danish news channel indicated that there were 24 crew members aboard, most from Asia and Eastern Europe.
The PortVision® AIS vessel track for the M/V MAERSK TIGRIS is displayed above. PortVision Advantage™ reporting indicates that the vessel was transiting between 12 and 13 knots at the time of the incident, then made various course and speed changes over the next 10 hours until the vessel's AIS reports to be anchored approximately 5 miles off the coast of Iran.
The vessel was sailing from the Port of Jeddah, apparently en-route to the UAE.
