Two ships sink near Hormuz after projectile hits as attacks on shipping surge

Two more commercial ships have gone down near the Strait of Hormuz, and the count matters: before this week only one vessel had sunk in this war.

Maritime officials said on Wednesday that the Singapore flagged container ship GFS Pride, a small vessel of 2,824 twenty foot equivalent units, was struck while sailing through the strait on Tuesday, caught fire and sank. Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said all 21 crew members were evacuated safely and no injuries were reported. The authority said it was deeply concerned about continued attacks on commercial shipping in the strait and called such attacks a breach of international law.

The second loss was slower. The Antigua and Barbuda flagged Cape Dao sank close to the strait weeks after it was first hit by a projectile on September 23, according to data from the International Maritime Organization shown on Wednesday. One crew member was killed in that September strike and the rest of the crew were evacuated at the time. Its manager could not immediately be reached for comment.

Together the two are the second and third vessels to sink since the United States and Iran war began on February 28, by an analysis of IMO casualty data. Attacks around the waterway have surged over the past ten days. Iranian officials have said Tehran changed its tactics and is stepping up strikes on ships it says violate its restrictions, in part to keep oil prices high, a claim reported here on October 14. Iran says the stepped up campaign answers an American blockade of its ports and tougher sanctions introduced last month.

The strait carried roughly a fifth of world oil and liquefied natural gas trade before the war. Every sinking raises insurance, rerouting and delay costs far beyond the two hulls lost, and those costs reach American drivers in the gasoline prices that September inflation figures, reported in this sweep, show rising sharply. The picture is an illustration of a sinking container ship in the strait, not a photograph of either vessel.