The International Maritime Organization’s highlighted-incidents board, as at 5 November, now prints 129 confirmed incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East, with 24 confirmed seafarer fatalities. Wednesday morning’s dedicated board piece on this desk sat at 128 as at 3 November, with Largo Atom’s 1 November row 72 nautical miles east of Ras Al Khafji, Selat Storm’s 1 November Strait of Hormuz row and Arzanah’s 28 October Strait of Hormuz row as the newest named lines. The fatality line has not moved. What moved is the as-at date by two days, the count by one, and one new named row at the top of the table. IMO now prints VELOS SAPPHIRE, IMO 9321201, dated 4 November, 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, damaged, no pollution, one seafarer missing. Thursday night is the first official IMO print of that hull.
The count is an IMO product. It is not a UKMTO warning, not a rewrite of Thursday morning’s dedicated Warning 196-26, and not a rewrite of Wednesday morning’s dedicated 128-count, Monday morning’s dedicated Warning 192-26, Sunday night’s dedicated 425/26, Tuesday night’s dedicated Warning 194-26 or 195-26, or Sunday night’s dedicated Update 110. Tonight’s companion Update 111, ICOD 051300 UTC 5 November, still withholds 196-26 as Name withheld UFN. That is a different counter from IMO’s 129. Masters who brief Thursday night as Update 111 finally printing Velos Sapphire, as UKMTO finally printing that hull on the original PDF, as a completed 4 November tape, or as a Hormuz reopen will have misread the instrument.
What the 5 November board actually adds
Wednesday morning’s English page was 128 confirmed incidents, 24 dead, as at 3 November, with LARGO ATOM, SELAT STORM and ARZANAH as the operational namings of that snapshot and with AL MAYEDA, RITI, LOUISE 1, GHANA PROSPERITY, LEONORA KOSAN, SOYIA, CHLOE (MIVERVA V), AL DASMA, JIF BARRACUDA, LOYALTY, ST3, GFS PRIDE, GFS GISELLE, AL SAADIYAT, DP WORLD KAVERI, KITION M, EVER VICT, AL MAQAM, ANGOLA PROSPERITY and PETRO DOLPHIN already on the sheet. Thursday night’s English page is 129 as at 5 November. The increment is one confirmed incident. One new named row sits at the top of the table, above Wednesday’s Largo Atom, Selat Storm and Arzanah lines. That arithmetic is a single-row move. Do not invent a second new name. Do not treat the +1 as a silent conversion of Tuesday night’s dedicated 194-26, Tuesday night’s dedicated 195-26, Monday night’s dedicated 193-26, Sunday night’s dedicated 191-26, Tuesday afternoon’s dedicated Al Jusufi statements, AZINI or Quba. Those products remain unnamed on this board as new Thursday rows. Do not treat the +1 as a Contship Jet conversion. That hull does not belong on this Middle East table as a new Thursday row. One increment from the earlier 114-to-119 jump is still unnamed on this public sheet.
The new row is VELOS SAPPHIRE, IMO 9321201, 4 November, 50NM north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, damaged, no pollution, one seafarer missing. Thursday morning’s dedicated Warning 196-26 remains an unnamed tanker Attack, 2320 UTC 4 November, source Verified, location footer Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar: UKMTO has received a report of an incident 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal; a tanker has been struck by two unidentified projectiles; the status of the crew, a damage assessment and the environmental impact are unconfirmed at present. Official MSCIO alerts index showed no numbered wrap against that 2320 UTC Qatar clock. Tonight’s companion Update 111 reprints 196-26 as Name withheld UFN, tanker, Attack, Arabian Gulf, crew / damage / environment unconfirmed as of ICOD 051300 UTC. IMO does not print 196-26, 2320 UTC, “two unidentified projectiles,” a Verified line, an unconfirmed crew line or an attacker. It prints Velos Sapphire, 9321201, damaged, no pollution, one seafarer missing, 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, on a 4 November date. That is a tighter hull finding than the PDF, and it matches the PDF’s 50-nautical-mile north-of-Madinat-ash-Shamal offset. It is also a different crew line. The PDF printed unconfirmed. Update 111 printed unconfirmed as of ICOD. IMO printed one seafarer missing. The fatality total is still 24. Missing is not a confirmed fatality on this sheet. It is not a completed class survey. It is not a UKMTO PDF revision. It is not an Update 111 naming.
Hold the nearby Qatar plot. ACERS remains 7 October, IMO 9301902, 51NM north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, damaged, no pollution, on this same table. One nautical mile and 28 days separate those two offsets. Do not promote ACERS onto the new Velos Sapphire row. Do not promote a 7 October clock, a Damaged/no-pollution line from ACERS, or IMO 9301902 onto Thursday morning’s dedicated 196-26. Thursday morning’s dedicated file already held that split. Thursday night’s IMO print does not collapse it.
Hold the clocks. UKMTO dates 196-26 to 4 November 2320 UTC. IMO dates the new Velos Sapphire row to 4 November without a time. Update 111, ICOD 051300 UTC 5 November, reprints 196-26 as unnamed. Those are separate official instruments, not one collapsed Attack. Do not invent which UKMTO number is the 4 November Velos Sapphire row. The 196-26 PDF has not been revised. Do not collapse Largo Atom, Selat Storm, Arzanah, Al Mayeda, RITI and Louise 1 into one late-October-to-early-November Attack because all six now sit near the top of the sheet. Largo Atom, Selat Storm and Arzanah remain Wednesday morning’s dedicated 128-count prints. Al Mayeda and RITI remain Tuesday morning’s dedicated 125-count prints. Louise 1 remains Monday afternoon’s dedicated 123-count print.
The rest of Wednesday’s sheet is still there. LARGO ATOM remains 1 November, IMO 1034747, 72NM East of Ras Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia, damaged, no pollution. SELAT STORM remains 1 November, IMO 9266657, Strait of Hormuz, damaged, pollution unknown. ARZANAH remains 28 October, IMO 9928023, Strait of Hormuz, damaged, no pollution. AL MAYEDA remains 30 October, IMO 9397298, 40NM South of Lavan Island, Iran, damaged, no pollution. RITI remains 29 October, IMO 9249075, Strait of Hormuz, damaged, no pollution. LOUISE 1 remains 29 October, IMO 9290323, 25NM Northeast of Khasab, Oman, damaged, no pollution. GHANA PROSPERITY remains 23 October, IMO 9732541, Strait of Hormuz, damaged, no pollution, with the 3 October Strait row for the same IMO number still lower on the board. LEONORA KOSAN remains 23 October, IMO 9390953, 6 NM northeast of Limah, damaged, no pollution. SOYIA remains 20 October, IMO 9263916, 30 NM southeast of Al Faw, damaged, no pollution. CHLOE (MIVERVA V) remains 19 October, IMO 9315367, 121 NM from the coast of Oman, damaged, no pollution. AL DASMA remains 20 October, IMO 9653446, Strait of Hormuz, second attack, damaged, no pollution, with the 7 September first-attack row still on the board. JIF BARRACUDA remains 18 October, IMO 9345506, northeast of Khor Fakkan, damaged, no pollution, one seafarer injured. GFS PRIDE remains sunk, no pollution. PETRO DOLPHIN remains two seafarers missing at Sohar Anchorage. GEM NO. 2 remains 9 October, IMO 9735373, 13 NM west of Al Jazeera, damaged. Cameroon Prosperity is still printed with the eight-digit IMO typo 93151598; the working seven-digit number on earlier dedicated files is 9315159. CAPE DAO remains 23 September, IMO 9219020, 15 NM northeast of Khasab, sunk, no pollution, one seafarer fatality. The fatality total is still 24. None of those rows is the 129-count move. The move is the one-incident increment, the as-at date shift to 5 November, and the first Velos Sapphire print at the top.
Velos Sapphire is an IMO print, not a 196-26 PDF naming
Warning 196-26 remains an unnamed PDF. The working primary on that dedicated Thursday-morning file is still: ATTACK, 4 November 2026, 2320 UTC, source Verified, tanker struck by two unidentified projectiles, 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, status of the crew, damage assessment and environmental impact unconfirmed at present, location footer Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, filename 20261105-ukmto_warning-196-26.pdf. UKMTO printed neither a ship name, an IMO number, a flag, a cargo, an attacker, a NUC or tow line, an anchorage, a missing-seafarer line nor a latitude/longitude beyond the 50-nautical-mile north-of-Madinat-ash-Shamal offset. Thursday night’s IMO row does not revise that PDF. A DPA who briefs Thursday night as “UKMTO has now named 196-26” has over-read a highlighted-incidents table that does not print a warning number.
Tonight’s companion Update 111, retrieved from jmic_advisory_update_111_05-nov.pdf, ICOD 051300 UTC 5 November, remains wrap on dedicated 196-26: Name withheld UFN, tanker, Attack, Arabian Gulf, two unidentified projectiles approx. 50 NM north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, crew, damage assessment and environmental impact unconfirmed as of ICOD. Update 111 does not print Velos Sapphire. IMO’s sheet is tighter on the hull, the IMO number and the missing-seafarer line and thinner on the method. It prints “50NM north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar,” “damaged,” “no pollution” and “one seafarer missing,” not “two unidentified projectiles,” not “Verified,” and not “unconfirmed.” Hold the official lines separately. A DPA who briefs IMO’s “damaged, no pollution, one seafarer missing” as a UKMTO revision of 196-26 will over-read the PDF. Neither product has been revised tonight. A DPA who briefs Update 111 as having named Velos Sapphire will over-read a table that still reads Name withheld UFN.
Industry colour of the same 4 November clock, held separately: open-register particulars only, Marshall Islands, oil products tanker, about 228 m, 40,953 gt / 74,998 dwt, MMSI 538008858, call sign V7A2841. Those extras are not an IMO flag, cargo or owner print. IMO prints Velos Sapphire, 9321201, damaged, no pollution, one seafarer missing. It does not print a flag, a cargo grade, a deadweight or an owner. Do not promote a company-fleet colour line onto this row. Distinct from dedicated ACERS on this same table, 7 October, IMO 9301902, 51NM north of Madinat ash Shamal. Distinct from dedicated LARGO ATOM, 1 November, 72NM east of Ras Al Khafji. Distinct from dedicated 195-26, Tuesday night’s unnamed tanker engine-room Attack, 1900 UTC 3 November, 14 nautical miles northeast of Lima. Do not fold Velos Sapphire onto that Lima clock.
The missing-seafarer line is the briefing fact. 196-26 printed unconfirmed. Update 111 printed unconfirmed as of ICOD. IMO printed one seafarer missing. The fatality total is still 24. PETRO DOLPHIN remains two seafarers missing at Sohar Anchorage. EL GAIA remains two seafarers missing. MINOAN PIONEER remains one seafarer missing. Those earlier missing lines did not move the fatality count when they first printed, and this one does not move it tonight. A war-risk file that treats IMO’s “one seafarer missing” as a 25th confirmed fatality has over-read the table. A master’s pack that treats 196-26’s unconfirmed crew line as now closed because IMO said missing has collapsed two instruments.
What this is not
This is not Warning 196-26. Thursday morning’s dedicated UKMTO Attack remains an unnamed Verified report, 2320 UTC 4 November, tanker, two unidentified projectiles, 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, crew, damage and environment unconfirmed. IMO has taken the offset and the date. It has not revised the PDF. Tonight’s companion Update 111 still withholds the hull.
This is not Warning 195-26. Tuesday night’s dedicated UKMTO Attack is a CSO report of a tanker 14 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman, struck by two unknown projectiles into the engine room at 1900 UTC 3 November, no casualties or environmental impact reported at this time. IMO has not taken that clock. This is not Warning 194-26. Tuesday night’s dedicated UKMTO Attack is a Verified report, 1105 UTC 2 November, of an Indian-crewed dhow attacked whilst sailing outbound through the Strait of Hormuz, surviving crew rescued, vessel status unknown. IMO has not taken that clock and has not printed Al Jusufi. Tuesday afternoon’s dedicated Indian minister / MEA / DMA Al Jusufi file remains wrap on 194-26, not a 194-26 hull and not an IMO row. Tonight’s companion Update 111 is the first numbered JMIC print of MSV Al Jusufi against 194-26; that is a JMIC naming, not this board.
This is not Warning 193-26. Monday night’s dedicated UKMTO Attack is a Master report of a vessel 9 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman, struck by an unknown projectile causing a hole on the starboard side at 2020 UTC 1 November, vessel and crew safe. Official MSCIO Alert 166/26 remains wrap on dedicated 193-26. This is not Warning 191-26. Sunday night’s dedicated Strait of Hormuz Mayday-relay Attack remains unnamed on the PDF. Official MSCIO Alert 164/26 remains wrap on that file. Tonight’s companion Update 111 names Selat Storm against 191-26 and 425/26; that is a JMIC naming, not a new IMO row. Selat Storm remains Wednesday morning’s dedicated 128-count print on this sheet.
This is not a rewrite of Wednesday morning’s dedicated 128-count. Largo Atom, Selat Storm and Arzanah remain Wednesday’s dedicated prints. This is not a rewrite of Tuesday morning’s dedicated 125-count. Al Mayeda and RITI remain Tuesday’s dedicated prints. This is not a rewrite of Monday afternoon’s dedicated 123-count. Louise 1 remains Monday’s dedicated print. This is not 417/26. Friday morning’s dedicated MSV Quba wreck remains 26-19.95N 056-16.82E. This is not Sunday morning’s dedicated MSCIO Alert 161/26 AZINI hijack. This is not Thursday morning’s dedicated NAVWARN 1336/26, and it is not Thursday morning’s dedicated 797/26 MENTOR or 790/26 Maslen Nos files. Those Black Sea and Aegean instruments do not belong on this Middle East table.
This is not a rewrite of tonight’s companion Update 111. Update 111 remains the numbered public periodic note, ICOD 051300 UTC 5 November, 172 incidents since 1 March. Dedicated 191-26 through 196-26 sit on that table. 196-26 remains Name withheld UFN on that note. This is not a 196-26 PDF revision. This is not an ACERS rewrite. This is not a fatality-count move. This is not a Hormuz reopen. Independent tracking colour and NCAGS facilitated-transit colour remain on dedicated Update 110 and on tonight’s companion Update 111; Thursday night’s board does not reprint them.
Operational implications
For CSOs, Thursday night is the first IMO sheet that prints Velos Sapphire. Charterers, P&I and war-risk underwriters who have been holding 196-26 as an unnamed Qatar projectile Attack, Update 111 as the regional note that still withholds that hull, and ACERS as the 7 October 51-nautical-mile north-of-Madinat-ash-Shamal row can now point to a 4 November IMO row on IMO 9321201. They still cannot point to a UKMTO PDF that prints that name. They still cannot point to an Update 111 naming. The board’s pollution line on Velos Sapphire is “no pollution.” That is tighter than 196-26’s unconfirmed environmental line and tighter than Update 111’s unconfirmed-as-of-ICOD line. The board’s crew line is “one seafarer missing.” That is tighter than both of those unconfirmed crew lines and is not a 25th confirmed fatality. IMO printed neither a refuge port, a return-to-passage, a wreck buoy, a NAVAREA number, a fire, a projectile method nor an attacker against the new row. A named tanker 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal that now carries an IMO confirmed-incident date and a missing-seafarer tag is still a survey, next-port, citadel, SAR and war-risk problem. “Damaged, no pollution” is not a completed class note. “One seafarer missing” is not a closed fatality file.
The 129-count is also a reminder of what IMO has not yet taken. Warning 195-26 remains Tuesday night’s dedicated unnamed Lima engine-room Attack. Warning 194-26 remains Tuesday night’s dedicated unnamed Indian-crewed dhow Attack; Al Jusufi on Tuesday afternoon’s dedicated Indian statements and on tonight’s companion Update 111 is wrap, not an IMO print. Warning 193-26 remains Monday night’s dedicated unnamed Lima hole Attack. Warning 191-26 remains Sunday night’s dedicated unnamed Hormuz Mayday-relay Attack; Selat Storm on Wednesday’s 128-count and on tonight’s companion Update 111 is wrap on those earlier files, not a new Thursday IMO row. Unused 186-26 remains an unnamed CSO Attack; RITI on 420/26, on Update 110 and on Tuesday’s 125-count is wrap on those earlier files, not a 186-26 PDF naming. AZINI remains Sunday morning’s dedicated MSCIO hijack. Quba remains Friday morning’s dedicated dhow wreck. One increment from the 114-to-119 jump is still unnamed. A master’s pack that treats 129 as “the 4 November tape is now official” will over-read the board. A pack that leaves the 4 November Velos Sapphire row off the IMO sheet because 196-26 was unnamed will under-read it.
Replace the Wednesday morning 128-count snapshot. Do not replace Update 111. ICOD remains 051300 UTC 5 November. Do not invent Update 112 because the IMO sheet moved one row and the as-at date after that cut-off. IMO’s 129 is not JMIC’s 172-incident tally on Update 111. Largo Atom, Selat Storm and Arzanah stay on the sheet as Wednesday morning’s dedicated 128-count prints. Al Mayeda and RITI stay on the sheet as Tuesday morning’s dedicated 125-count prints. Louise 1 stays on the sheet as Monday afternoon’s dedicated 123-count print. Ghana Prosperity stays on the sheet as Saturday’s dedicated 23 October print. The 3 October Ghana Prosperity row stays on the sheet as the first confirmed incident against that IMO number. 196-26 stays Thursday morning’s dedicated unnamed Qatar Attack. 192-26 stays Monday morning’s dedicated unnamed Ras Al Khafji Attack. 425/26 stays Sunday night’s dedicated Selat Storm wreck. Do not recast 5 November night as a 196-26 PDF naming, an Update 111 naming, a fatality-count move, a rewrite of Wednesday morning’s 128-count, a rewrite of Thursday morning’s 196-26, an ACERS conversion, or a Hormuz reopen.
What Operators Should Note
- Log the 5 November IMO board at 129, not a UKMTO naming. 129 confirmed incidents as at 5 November. 24 seafarers dead, unchanged from Wednesday morning’s 128-count. Replace the 128 snapshot in the master’s pack. Do not replace JMIC Update 111. ICOD remains 051300 UTC 5 November. IMO’s 129 is not JMIC’s 172. Update 111 still withholds 196-26. UKMTO still ends at 196-26.
- Treat the new Velos Sapphire row as an IMO print, not as a 196-26 PDF naming. IMO 9321201, 4 November, 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, damaged, no pollution, one seafarer missing. Dedicated Warning 196-26 remains an unnamed Verified Attack, 4 November 2320 UTC, tanker, two unidentified projectiles, crew / damage / environment unconfirmed, 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal. Tonight’s companion Update 111 remains Name withheld UFN against that clock. Do not invent which UKMTO number is this hull. Do not invent a fire, a cargo grade or a next port on the IMO sheet. Do not convert “one seafarer missing” into a 25th confirmed fatality.
- Keep ACERS on its own 7 October line. ACERS remains IMO 9301902, 7 October, 51NM north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, damaged, no pollution. One nautical mile and 28 days separate that offset from the new Velos Sapphire row. Do not promote ACERS, a 51 NM offset, a 7 October clock, or IMO 9301902 onto 196-26 or onto the new 4 November row.
- Keep type and size on the colour line, not on the board. Open-register colour only: Marshall Islands, oil products tanker, about 228 m, 40,953 gt / 74,998 dwt, MMSI 538008858. Those extras are not IMO flag, cargo or owner prints. Do not promote a company-fleet or sanctions colour line onto this row. Largo Atom remains Wednesday’s dedicated 1034747 print. Selat Storm remains Wednesday’s dedicated 9266657 print. Arzanah remains Wednesday’s dedicated 9928023 print.
- Leave 194-26, 195-26, 193-26, 191-26, Al Jusufi, AZINI and Quba off this sheet as new Thursday rows, and leave one 114-to-119 increment unnamed. 195-26 remains Tuesday night’s dedicated 14 NM northeast-of-Lima tanker engine-room Attack. 194-26 remains Tuesday night’s dedicated Indian-crewed dhow Attack; Tuesday afternoon’s dedicated Al Jusufi statements and tonight’s companion Update 111 are wrap, not an IMO print. 193-26 remains Monday night’s dedicated 9 NM northeast-of-Lima Attack; MSCIO 166/26 is wrap. 191-26 remains Sunday night’s dedicated Hormuz Mayday-relay Attack; Selat Storm on Wednesday’s 128-count and on Update 111 is wrap. 417/26 remains Friday morning’s dedicated Quba wreck. 161/26 remains Sunday morning’s dedicated AZINI hijack. Do not invent the still-unnamed increment from the +5.
- Hold Largo Atom, Selat Storm, Arzanah, Al Mayeda, RITI, Louise 1, Ghana Prosperity and the rest of Wednesday’s sheet. Largo Atom remains 1034747, 1 November, 72 NM east of Ras Al Khafji, damaged, no pollution — Wednesday morning’s dedicated 128-count print. Selat Storm remains 9266657, 1 November, Strait of Hormuz, damaged, pollution unknown. Arzanah remains 9928023, 28 October, Strait of Hormuz, damaged, no pollution. Al Mayeda remains 9397298, 30 October, 40 NM south of Lavan. RITI remains 9249075, 29 October, Strait of Hormuz. Louise 1 remains 9290323, 29 October, 25 NM northeast of Khasab. Ghana Prosperity remains 9732541, 23 October, Strait of Hormuz, with the 3 October row still on the board. Leonora Kosan remains 9390953, 23 October, 6 NM northeast of Limah. Al Dasma still carries a second-attack row. Cape Dao remains sunk. Petro Dolphin remains two missing at Sohar. Cameroon Prosperity still carries 93151598 on the board; working number 9315159. Fatality line unchanged at 24.
- Do not recast Thursday night as a 196-26 PDF revision or as a completed 4 November tape. Update 111 still withholds 196-26 as Name withheld UFN. The as-at date has moved to 5 November; the count moved by one on that dated sheet. Do not recast 129 as a Hormuz reopen, an Update 111 naming, an ACERS conversion, or a pollution survey. Watch a later IMO as-at date, a UKMTO PDF that prints Velos Sapphire, a fatality-line move off 24, or a numbered Update 112 — not a silent conversion of this week’s unnamed Attacks.
Regulas Shipping will keep lining the IMO highlighted-incidents board against UKMTO numbered products, NAVAREA IX 425/26 and JMIC Update 111 so operators can treat Thursday night’s 129-count and the new 4 November Velos Sapphire print as an IMO instrument, not as a UKMTO naming or a Hormuz reopen.
