Who insures ships in Strait of Hormuz?

Gard AS is the world's largest marine protection and indemnity (P&I) club and a leading global maritime insurer.

Major Global Marine and Maritime Insurers

Maritime insurance spans hull and machinery (H&M), protection and indemnity (liability), and cargo risks. The industry leaders include:

• Gard AS: Based in Norway, Gard is the top mutual marine insurer globally, handling a massive share of the world's ocean-going fleet liability through the International Group of P&I Clubs.
• Allianz Commercial: A premier global marine underwriter providing comprehensive hull, cargo, and liability coverages worldwide.
• Chubb: The world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurer, offering extensive marine lines, specialized shipping operator solutions, and large-scale maritime reinsurance facilities.
• China P&I Club: One of the largest mutual marine insurers, representing a powerful and rapidly growing share of regional and international shipping protection.
• Tokio Marine Group: A major global property and casualty group with a powerful international marine and transit insurance footprint.
• Zurich Insurance Group: Originally founded as a marine reinsurer, Zurich remains a prominent global provider spanning commercial cargo, hull, and ocean transit risks.
• AIG (American International Group): A dominant commercial marine player offering specialized global vessel, cargo, and liability protection.
• Liberty Mutual Ocean Marine Group: A major provider covering global ports, shipbuilders, hull, machinery, and protection and indemnity risks.

Yes, oil tankers are moving through the Strait of Hormuz, with export volumes returning close to pre-war levels according to reports by BBC News.

Current Traffic Status

• Rebounding Flow: Data from the shipping tracker Kpler shows crude oil shipments through the area reached near normal levels in late September.
• High Volume: Daily shipments have hit up to 22.5 million barrels on peak days.

Safe Passage Methods

• Military Escorts: United States Navy ships protect many commercial tankers along the southern shipping lane near Oman.
• Transfers: Many ships transfer their oil to other vessels off the coasts of the United Arab Emirates and Oman instead of making the full trip.
• Pipelines: Some oil bypasses the water completely by using overland pipelines.

Ongoing Risks

• Active Threats: Drone and missile strikes still target vessels in and around the water.
• Tracking Debate: On Reddit, opinions are mixed regarding whether a large number of ships are turning off their tracking transponders to hide their movement from attackers.

No single country owns the Strait of Hormuz.

Territorial Borders and International Law

• Shared Waters: The waters of the strait lie inside the territorial waters of both Iran (to the north) and Oman (to the south, via the Musandam Peninsula).
• Shipping Lanes: The main shipping paths run mostly through Omani waters and partly through Iranian waters.
• Transit Rights: According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the waterway is an international transit chokepoint. All civilian and military vessels have a legal right to continuous and expeditious "transit passage" that cannot be blocked or impeded.

Practical Control vs. Ownership

• Military Leverage: While no nation owns the strait, Iran holds significant geographical and military advantage. Its coastline, naval bases, and missile capabilities allow it to exert practical, de facto influence or disrupt traffic during regional conflicts.
• International Oversight: Outside naval coalitions, such as the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet based nearby in Bahrain, frequently operate in the region to protect commercial shipping lanes and ensure the corridor remains open.

Iran does not have the legal right under customary international law to completely close the Strait of Hormuz or impede international transit passage.

Legal Frameworks and Arguments

• Transit Passage Regime: Legal experts note that international straits used for international navigation are governed by the rule of "transit passage" under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This rule grants ships the right to move quickly and continuously through the strait, and coastal states are explicitly barred from suspending or hampering this passage.
• Customary International Law: While Iran, the United States, and Israel are not official parties to UNCLOS, legal scholars and authorities emphasize that the transit-passage regime is widely recognized as binding customary international law.
• The Iranian Position: Iran argues that because it has not ratified UNCLOS, it is not bound by its transit passage rules. Instead, Tehran contends that passage through its territorial waters is subject to stricter "innocent passage" regulations, which allow a coastal state to suspend or regulate navigation for security reasons. Iran has also framed certain actions around self-defense or wartime measures during active regional conflicts.
• Wartime Restrictions and Tolls: According to analysis on Just Security and Reuters, even during an armed conflict, a total unnotified blockade, the laying of indiscriminate mines, or the charging of heavy cargo and transit tolls (such as recent demands for multi-million dollar fees) violate neutral navigational rights and international maritime laws. Experts maintain that selective closure applies only to specific belligerent military vessels, not general international or neutral commercial traffic.

Yes, the Strait of Hormuz can be partially bypassed using existing and expanding land pipelines, but current alternatives cannot fully replace its massive shipping volume.

Existing Bypass Options

• Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline (Petroline): Moves up to 7 million barrels of crude oil per day from eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
• UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah Pipeline: Carries 1.8 million barrels of oil per day directly to the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the strait entirely. The UAE is also building a second pipeline to double this capacity by 2027.

Major Limitations

• Capacity Shortfall: Combined existing pipelines handle roughly 9 million barrels per day, falling far short of the more than 20 million barrels of daily oil and vast liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes that normally transit Hormuz.
• Missing Country Access: Countries like Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq lack sufficient direct pipeline routes to entirely bypass the Persian Gulf.
• Vulnerability to Attack: Fixed pipelines and alternative Red Sea shipping routes face ongoing threats from regional conflicts, drone strikes, and militant activity near the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

You can review further breakdown of these geopolitical strategies via Al Jazeera.