IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez warned that approximately 20,000 seafarers and 15,000 cruise passengers are stranded in Gulf and Arabian Sea waters. Many seafarers have completed their employment contracts and are legally entitled to repatriation, but no route exists.
The stranding follows the complete collapse of commercial shipping insurance for The Gulf. The P&I deadline passed at midnight Thursday with no new commercial transits through the strait of Hormuz; more than 150 vessels sit at anchor. Vessel traffic through Hormuz had already fallen 80% below normal before the insurance withdrawal made remaining transits uninsurable. The 35,000 figure represents people on vessels that cannot legally move — their insurance is void, the waterway is a combat zone, and the Sonangol Namibe was struck and leaked cargo 30 nautical miles southeast of Kuwait, confirming that commercial vessels are not exempt from attack.
The human cost falls disproportionately on seafarers from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh — countries whose nationals make up the majority of the world's approximately 1.89 million active merchant sailors. The 15,000 cruise passengers are a visible emergency with diplomatic weight behind their extraction. The 20,000 seafarers — largely invisible, working below decks on tankers and bulk carriers — face weeks or months of uncertainty with minimal consular leverage.
A ceasefire tomorrow would not move these vessels. Insurers would require weeks to reassess risk. Port authorities would need to clear backlogs. Each day the stranding persists, it erodes the willingness of seafarers to accept future Gulf deployments — a long-term consequence for the region's maritime labour supply that outlasts whatever diplomatic resolution eventually comes.
