Zombie oil tanker exits Hormuz as Trump and Iran trade threats

An oil tanker that seems to have already been scrapped has signaled it’s just transited the Strait of Hormuz, the second example of a so-called zombie ship crossing the waterway in a matter of days.

The Nabiin was in the Persian Gulf on Sunday evening, according to ship-tracking data, and by Monday morning was in the Gulf of Oman. However, records compiled by Bloomberg News indicate that the Aframax, built in 2002, was sent to the breaking yards in Bangladesh five years ago.

The vessel posing as Nabiin is likely a zombie tanker, which assumes the identity of a scrapped, legitimate ship. It comes after a vessel identifying as a liquefied natural gas carrier, Jamal, which was recorded beached at an Indian demolition yard last year, crossed Hormuz on Friday. Bloomberg News couldn’t immediately confirm the identity of the ship posing as Nabiin, including if it’s an oil tanker.

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The ship posing as Nabiin has been in the Persian Gulf since the war started, before exiting on Sunday, and is now in the Gulf of Oman.

Nabiin and Jamal show the lengths to which shipowners are going to get cargoes through the strait, which has been effectively closed since the Middle East war started at the end of February. President Donald Trump gave Iran a two-day deadline, late on Saturday in the US, to reopen the strait or else risk having its power plants bombed. Tehran said it would close Hormuz completely should the attacks happen.

So far, the few ships that have gotten through the strait appear to be Iran-linked or seem to have gotten Tehran’s approval for their passage. Others have turned off their geolocation signals to avoid being tracked.

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The ship posing as Nabiin entered the Persian Gulf hours before the war broke out, indicating Iraq’s Khor Al Zubair as its destination, ship-tracking data show. It stayed within the gulf until exiting, although its exact movements are unclear given the heavy electronic interference of ships’ transmission signals. On Sunday, after leaving the gulf, it indicated that it was fully laden, based on draft readings, and had no clear destination.

Muhit Maritime FZE and Sagitta Maritime Co, both based in Dubai, are listed as Nabiin’s manager and owner, respectively, on international database Equasis. The two companies have the same contact details. Telephone calls made to the companies did not go through, and emails bounced back.

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