Seven Norwegian ships were in the Persian Gulf on Saturday. The Maritime Directorate is monitoring the tense situation between the United States and Iran closely and assessing how it will affect the safety of Norwegian vessels.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and although we do not plan to change the security level now, this can change rapidly. We will then inform concerned parties about changes,” said Alf Tore Sørheim, Director of Operational Supervision in the Maritime Directorate, to the Aftenposten.
Since this summer, the contingency level in the area has been ‘risk level 2’, meaning that vessels and shipping companies must be vigilant and use a variety of safety measures.
According to the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, there were four Norwegian-registered vessels in the Gulf of Persia on Saturday evening. In addition, there were at least three ships owned by Norwegian shipowners that are not registered in Norway.
Annually, Norwegian or Norwegian-controlled ships have 1,700 calls to ports in the tense area. On Saturday night, at least 30 of the many ships had turned off their GPS or radio transponders, so that they will not be easy targets for an attack by Iran or Iranian supporters, reports Aftenposten.
The situation in the Gulf of Persia and the Strait of Hormuz changed after the United States on Friday killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a drone attack at Baghdad International Airport.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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