Skip to content
Welcome, thoughtbot's Giant Robots listeners!Start here
Russia-Ukraine War 2026
22OCT

IMO starts to evacuate 11,000 mariners

3 min read
19:10UTC

The International Maritime Organisation launched a coordinated evacuation of roughly 11,000 stranded seafarers from the Persian Gulf on 23 June, working with Iran, Oman and the United States as transits hit a war-high of 36.

← Back to Kremlin floats 10 November talks as diesel deal work beginsJump to analysis ↓
ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

The IMO began moving 11,000 stranded crews as Hormuz transits recovered to a war-high 36 a day.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN agency responsible for the safety of international shipping, began a coordinated evacuation of roughly 11,000 stranded seafarers from the Persian Gulf on 23 June, operating with Iran, Oman and the United States together⁠1. Fourteen seafarers have died during the months of closure since the IRGC declared Hormuz shut. Denmark joined the international maritime mission the same day.

These are crews left at anchor for months while the diplomatic and legal fight over the strait played out above them. No committee on paper can move them; the evacuation is the first physical relief they have had.

The operation became possible only because the waterway cracked partly open. Transits recovered to a war-high 36 vessels on Monday 22 June, up from just 12 on the day General License X authorised Iranian oil sales, creating the operational window the IMO needed. That recovery still runs at barely a third of the pre-war rate near 94 a day, so the evacuation describes a strait that is reopening for rescue rather than for trade.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

About 11,000 people work on ships that have been stuck in The Persian Gulf since the conflict began in late February. Fourteen of those workers have died during the months of closure. The International Maritime Organisation; the United Nations agency responsible for shipping safety; launched a formal evacuation on 23 June to get those stranded workers home. The number of ships actually moving through the strait of Hormuz rose to 36 on 22 June, up from just 12 a week earlier. That improvement created enough of an opening for the evacuation to begin. Still, 36 ships a day is less than 40% of the normal 94 that used to pass through before the conflict. Mines in the water and the lack of shipping insurance are the main reasons the strait has not fully reopened yet.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The 11,000 stranded seafarers accumulated because P&I (Protection and Indemnity) insurance withdrawal on 15 March 2026; triggered by BIMCO's CONWARTIME clause; cut the legal liability chain: owners could not insure vessel entry, so they could not send relief crews in, and could not evacuate stranded ones without uninsured risk.

The IMO evacuation operates under a state-to-state framework (Iran, Oman, US), bypassing the commercial insurance barrier by treating evacuation vessels as quasi-governmental craft.

The fourteen deaths; a figure the IMO has not broken down by cause; likely combine delayed medical evacuation (no helicopter access within the closure zone), heat stress (Gulf summer temperatures reaching 48°C in the vessel engine rooms), and at least one incident of crew violence under prolonged confinement. The ITF documented all three causes in the 2020 COVID seafarer abandonment crisis, which stranded 400,000 globally for 18 months.

What could happen next?
  • Consequence

    Repatriation of 11,000 seafarers removes the primary humanitarian leverage Iran and the IRGC held over shipping-dependent states like India and the Philippines, reducing Tehran's ability to use crew welfare as a negotiating chip.

  • Risk

    If transit rates fall back below 15 vessels per day before mine clearance is certified, a second cohort of replacement crews entering under the post-evacuation framework will face the same stranding risk, extending the humanitarian crisis into August.

Sources:International Maritime Organisation
Mentions:Iran →Oman →Denmark →Strait of Hormuz →Tanker War →Bangladesh →Philippines →USS Stark →Persian Gulf →Singapore →United Nations →India →General License X →United States →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →International Maritime Organization →CONWARTIME clause →Suez Canal →
First Reported In

Update #137 · Iran and Oman claim the strait; US says no

International Maritime Organisation· 24 Jun 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
Caused by
Hormuz crossings fell 78% on GL X's first day
IMO evacuation launch follows transit recovery from 12 ships on GL X day to 36 on 22 June, creating operational window for seafarer repatriation.
Occurred 22 Jun 2026
Read story →
This Event
IMO starts to evacuate 11,000 mariners
The evacuation and the transit count are what is physically true about Hormuz, and they describe a strait still mostly shut.
Led to
Korean ships sail past the IRGC order
The IMO-coordinated seafarer evacuation corridor (23 Jun) is the framework under which Korean vessels transited, which the IRGC rejected on the same day.
Occurred 25 Jun 2026
Read story →
11,000 trapped as exit corridor shut
The PGSA's corridor suspension reversed and negated the IMO coordinated evacuation of 11,000 seafarers that began on 23 June.
Occurred 25 Jun 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
South Korean foreign ministry
South Korean foreign ministry
Seoul said on 20 October it will withdraw some Kyiv embassy staff, citing no constructive steps from Kyiv since it recalled its ambassador over the disclosure of two North Korean prisoners. A chargé d'affaires and consular staff stay, and Seoul says its aid continues.
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Lukashenko
Lukashenko said on 22 October that talks with the US show progress despite problems, which he said were highlighted with the exchange of political prisoners for the lifting of sanctions. He said Minsk keeps its promises and wants the US to deliver its side in full.
Moldovan government (Daniella Misail-Nichitin)
Moldovan government (Daniella Misail-Nichitin)
Moldova has pulled its border guards and customs officers from four crossings on Ukrainian soil after Russian strikes near the border. Interior Minister Daniella Misail-Nichitin said Chisinau is weighing moving Ukrainian checkpoints onto Moldovan territory.
Péter Magyar
Péter Magyar
Magyar told RTL that Ukrainian maize may cross Hungary in sealed trains bound for Western Europe. He set one condition: the cargo must only transit the country.
Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
Tusk said Warsaw would seek an explanation from Kyiv for the drone's route across Poland. He said Poland allows no operations over its territory without its explicit consent.
Mindaugas Sinkevičius
Mindaugas Sinkevičius
Lithuania's prime minister said the Ukrainian drone that exploded in Pasvalys district on 18 October carried explosives and entered from Poland through the Schengen zone. Earlier drones over Lithuania had come from Belarus, not through allied airspace.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.