The U.S. Navy continues to encourage commercial ships to use the so-called southern route through the Strait of Hormuz, despite attacks by Iran this week targeting vessels trying to use that route and repeated warnings from Tehran for ships to only use a northern passage close to its coast.
An advisory released Friday by the international Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) in Bahrain, of which the U.S. Navy is a core member, reminded mariners in the region that the security threat level in the strait and surrounding waters remained severe, but it added “further information” specifically from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
“Notwithstanding recent unprovoked attacks on merchant vessels, mariners are reminded that the southern route of the [Strait of Hormuz] has been expanded and remains available for all traffic,” the update, highlighted in red to differentiate it from the previous guidance, says.
JMIC urges mariners to coordinate any passage through the narrow waterway with the joint naval forces, but says it is not mandatory.
“Ships may transit the southern route without coordination,” the advisory says.
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The new guidance added that additional routes are available, but are not “protected.” The only other route known to exist, without a risk of potential sea mines laid by Iran, is the northern route designated by Tehran, which Iranian authorities say requires direct coordination with its military.
The Lloyd’s List maritime intelligence group said Thursday that no large vessels had transited the southern route, which hugs the coast of Oman, with their location transponders switched on since July 7, though it could not rule out ships using the path with their locators switched off.
A CBS News review of open-source maritime tracking data on Friday found no commercial vessels publicly broadcasting locations that would indicate an intention to transit the southern shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz.
