The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center published Update 104 to its regional advisory note with an information cut-off of 111500 UTC on 11 October. The note, JMIC# 001 26, is the first numbered public update since Update 103 of 8 October. Hormuz remains at SEVERE. The Arabian Gulf stays MODERATE, the Gulf of Oman MODERATE, and Bab el-Mandeb / the southern Red Sea SUBSTANTIAL. Confirmed vessel incidents since 1 March are now printed as 140, up from 135 on Update 103. The confirmed-incidents table adds five files since the last report: UKMTO 159-26, 160-26, 162-26, 163-26 and 164-26. Two of those hulls are named. 160-26 is GEM NO.2. 163-26 is M/V Ocean Molica, printed with the aliases Akira Sun and Victoria Hk.
That is the working primary. Sunday’s note is a numbered regional instrument, not a Hormuz reopen and not a rewrite of the dedicated 8–12 October UKMTO, IMO-board or CENTCOM pieces. It is also not the International Maritime Organization’s highlighted-incidents board, which on Monday printed a confirmed count of 104. Those are different 104s. The useful facts for a DPA and a bridge team are the unchanged SEVERE/MODERATE split, the first JMIC naming of Gem No. 2 against the Al Jazeera anchorage file, the first JMIC naming of Ocean Molica against the Gulf of Oman blockade disablement, the new 159-26 loss-of-power and tug-to-Ras-Al-Khaimah line, the tighter 162-26 and 164-26 damage narratives, and the CENTCOM 11 October blockade tally. Do not treat industry matching of Valthera, Petro Dolphin or Al Maqam as a JMIC naming, and do not treat Monday’s time-late UKMTO Warnings 166-26 through 169-26 as if they sat on Update 104’s printed list.
What Update 104 actually added
Update 103’s information cut-off was 081500 UTC on 8 October. It already carried 151-26 through 158-26, named CHRYSTAL SKY and ON PEACE, and left 158-26 unnamed. Update 104 does not reprint that table and does not downgrade Hormuz. It adds the next five products that had cleared confirmation by 111500 UTC on 11 October.
On 159-26, the original UKMTO warning issued on 8 October was a time-late verified-source Attack product: unnamed crude-oil tanker, unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, incident time 1709 UTC on 6 October, no casualties, damage and environmental impact unknown. That file sat off Update 103’s table and stayed unused as a dedicated piece. Update 104 now takes it onto the numbered list, still as “Name withheld UFN.” The new narrative is from management, not from the original warning’s thinner line: on 6 October the vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the port aft quarter, lost power, reported no casualties or injuries, and is en route to Ras Al Khaimah with tug assistance. Keep both clocks. Do not fold 159-26 into On Peace / 157-26, into 162-26, or into 164-26.
On 160-26, Update 104 names GEM NO.2. That is the first JMIC naming of the hull that the IMO highlighted-incidents board printed on Monday against a 9 October Arabian Gulf geometry, and it is not a rewrite of the dedicated 10 October 03:30 Warning 160-26 piece, which remained an unnamed third-party Attack product 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazeera. The numbered note places the tanker at anchor in United Arab Emirates territorial waters, about 11–13 nautical miles off the coast. At 1134 UTC on 9 October a security company contacted UKMTO. A nearby master’s welfare check then reported smoke from the vessel earlier described as hit. That same evening, India’s minister of ports, shipping and waterways confirmed the attack and said all Indian crew were safe. The original UKMTO warning said fire extinguished, crew/damage/environment unknown, source third party not verified. Update 104 does not reprint a projectile type, a pollution volume, or an IMO number. Open-register colour only, already used on this desk: Panama-flag GEM NO. 2, IMO 9735373, MMSI 354264000, call sign 3FQW3, 2017, about 330 × 60 metres, about 156,853 gt / 302,783 dwt. That is particulars colour, not a JMIC IMO print. Do not treat the naming as a confirmed IRGC claim, and do not merge it with the dedicated NV Sunshine file.
On 162-26, Update 104 still withholds the name. The master remains the source. An outbound tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was hit by an unknown projectile on the port side, causing a fire. The fire has now been extinguished, a damage assessment is to be conducted, the vessel no longer requires assistance, the crew are safe, and the ship is awaiting its next orders. The dedicated 11 October 03:30 Warning 162-26 piece remains the original Saturday 1920 UTC product: fire on board, crew safe, damage and environmental impact unknown. India’s later Marshall Islands MT Valthera / fire / 11 Indian seafarers-safe line stays colour on that dedicated file. It is not a JMIC naming. Update 104 does not print Valthera.
On 163-26, Update 104 names the hull and closes the type mismatch that sat on the dedicated 11 October 11:30 Advisory 163-26 piece. UKMTO’s original product said an unnamed tanker and military forces in the Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM, via X and the weekend wires, said a precision munition disabled the stern of Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica, also printed as Arika Sun, a cargo vessel, crew unharmed, after repeated warnings and an Iranian-port departure. Open registers listed a Panamax bulk carrier. The numbered note now prints M/V Ocean Molica (aka Akira Sun and Victoria Hk), vessel type bulk carrier, event type Advisory, location Gulf of Oman. The table dates the row 11 October, the day CENTCOM reported the disablement. The Gulf of Oman operational summary dates the disablement 10 October, after the ship left an Iranian port. Precision munitions were used to disable propulsion. The crew were reported safe. Hold both dates on the same named file. Stay with JMIC’s Akira Sun spelling on the alias line; CENTCOM’s Arika Sun remains a spelling variant on the same IMO, not a second hull. Open-register colour only: IMO 9139270, MMSI 374348000, call sign 3EWC4, Panama, 1996, about 225 × 32 metres, about 36,559 gt / 70,296 dwt. VesselFinder’s registered name AKIRA SUN / AIS OCEAN MOLICA and the stale Arabian Sea track remain voyage colour, not a JMIC position. This is a blockade-enforcement Advisory, not a third-flag projectile Attack.
On 164-26, Update 104 still withholds the name. The company security officer remains the source. The tanker was struck on the port side by an unknown projectile, sustained damage to the steering gear room and the port-side water tank, showed no visible fire, reported the crew safe with no injuries, and is proceeding to Fujairah anchorage. The dedicated 12 October 03:30 Warning 164-26 piece remains the original Sunday 1200 UTC CSO product: outbound, port-side unidentified projectile, damage, all crew safe, no environmental impact reported at the time of the attack. Update 104 adds the compartment list and the Fujairah destination. It does not repeat the original “no environmental impact” line and it does not print a pollution volume. India’s Marshall Islands MT Valthera naming stays on the dedicated 164-26 file as competing-clock colour. It is not on Update 104’s table. Seatrade / Vanguard industry matching of Liberia-flag VLCC Angola Prosperity, IMO 9896414, against the unnamed CSO outbound remains industry matching, not a JMIC naming.
Advisory 161-26 is not on the confirmed-incidents table. The Arabian Gulf operational summary carries it as a 10 October advisory: several masters near Ras Al Khaimah reported a VHF order to leave their anchorages; no attacker, no damage and no compliance confirmed. That is wrap of the dedicated 11 October 03:30 Advisory 161-26 piece, not a new Attack product. Update 104 does not name IRGC against that hail.
What sits off the list, and the traffic that moved
Sunday’s cut-off is 111500 UTC on 11 October. It does not print Warning 165-26, the Sohar-anchorage UAV Attack that UKMTO reclassified on Sunday after first issuing a Suspicious Activity product, and it does not print Monday’s time-late Warnings 166-26, 167-26, 168-26 or 169-26. Those later products are a separate tape. Do not brief Update 104 as a complete 11 October count.
The note also does not print Petro Dolphin, Valthera, ST1, Gas Vela, Uhud or Al Maqam. The IMO board’s Monday namings of Valthera, Gem No. 2 and Acers remain the dedicated 12 October 11:30 IMO-board piece. Update 104 names Gem No. 2 only. It does not take Acers onto 158-26 and it does not name Valthera against 162-26 or 164-26.
Gulf of Oman blockade hygiene is the other operator number. The latest available official CENTCOM figures, dated 11 October in Update 104, are 135 commercial vessels redirected, four disabled because of blockade enforcement, and two boarded for compliance verification. That replaces the 5 October line carried in Update 103 (130 redirected, three disabled, two boarded, 13 destroyed over 12 weeks). Update 104 does not reprint a destroyed count. CENTCOM’s Saturday 10 October public tally of four commercial vessels disabled, 135 turned around and 10 IRGC-linked tankers destroyed remains colour on the dedicated 163-26 piece. Do not add Sunday’s 135/4/2 to Saturday’s 10. They are different series. Neutral transit remains permitted. Visit-and-search, a 30-nautical-mile standoff from U.S. units, AIS-on unless constrained by security threats, continuous monitoring of VHF Channel 16, and a humanitarian-cargo exemption via NAVCENT NCAGS are still the published tools. Approved humanitarian vessels may transit to Iranian ports but remain subject to inspection and may not load cargo in Iran beyond fuel and stores.
Strait of Hormuz traffic is still a split series. Independent tracking still shows single-digit numbers each way against a 2025 baseline of about 138 vessels a day. U.S. NCAGS data indicated about 29 vessel transits per day over the last 72 hours. U.S.-facilitated Strait of Hormuz transits for 8–10 October are printed as 86. Do not add the 86 and the 29. Bab el-Mandeb cargo transits for the same 72 hours are 86 against a 2023 baseline of about 61 per day. The annex cargo-vessel table, drawn from S&P Maritime / SeaVision for non-facilitated traffic above 1,000 dwt excluding Iranian-port calls adjacent to the strait, shows Strait of Hormuz daily totals of 6, 10, 0, 4, 5, 3 and 2 from 4 to 10 October. Tanker-only Hormuz rows stay thin: 0, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1 and 1 across the same week.
The southern Red Sea paragraph revises NAVAREA IX 363/26. Update 103 carried the 7 October 071900 UTC piracy warning at 12°58′N 043°12′E in the TSS, 12 nautical miles west of Dhubab, self-cancelling at 142359 UTC on 14 October. Update 104 keeps that geometry and now assesses the event as likely local fishermen firing warning shots over a small closest-point-of-approach, with the merchant vessel reporting it. Mariners are still advised to keep a sharp lookout. That is not a cancellation and not a rewrite of CUL Klang. Houthi forces remain in control of Mocha and much of the territory seized in September. Traffic remains below the 20 July selective embargo. The threat level stays SUBSTANTIAL. MT ASANA, the Tanzanian-flag product/chemical tanker hijacked on 17 July about 65 nautical miles southwest of Mukalla, is still the one merchant vessel remaining hijacked. Yanbu loadings as of the morning of 6 October remain 5.8 million barrels, confirmed by Saudi Arabia’s energy minister. Suez remains functional both ways.
Operational implications
A numbered JMIC update is a routing and manning problem before it is a count of who was hit. Hormuz is still SEVERE, with deliberate attacks called highly likely, AIS-on targeting risk, directed hails toward the northern Iranian-controlled route, and a specific watch for attempted mining within and adjacent to the traffic-separation scheme. That guidance did not move because Gem No. 2 was named. What moved is the geography of the last 72 hours on JMIC’s own account: one confirmed Arabian Gulf attack on a ship at anchor in UAE territorial waters, three confirmed Hormuz attacks plus one time-late file, and a named blockade disablement in the Gulf of Oman. The Arabian Gulf rating stays MODERATE. Masters already inside the Gulf, at Ras Laffan, Mesaieed, Bahrain, Ras Tanura, Mina Al Ahmadi, Ras Al Khaimah or Sharjah, should not brief a Hormuz-only threat. They also should not brief a Gulf-wide combat area because one named VLCC was hit at anchor 11–13 nautical miles off the UAE coast.
The outlook paragraph is the other operational line. If the present pattern persists, additional projectile or drone incidents could affect tankers at UAE anchorages — Ras Al Khaimah, Umm al Quwain, Sharjah, and possibly Fujairah — and outbound vessels in the southern Omani corridor. Vessels stationary for extended periods, or holding AIS-on while static, may still face elevated targeting risk. JMIC’s mitigations are conditional: cut unnecessary time at anchor, treat repositioning as a measure whose protective value is uncertain, keep AIS-compliance language while making clear that AIS-off does not prevent detection, and keep regular UKMTO reporting irrespective of AIS status. That is not a licence to go dark, and it is not a coastal-state AIS-off order.
CSOs should replace the 8 October Update 103 pack with Update 104 in the master’s folder and in the charterer’s security clause file. The new named lines are GEM NO.2 on 160-26 and Ocean Molica on 163-26. The new 159-26 line is port-aft-quarter loss of power and a tug toward Ras Al Khaimah. The new 162-26 line is fire out, no longer needs assistance, awaiting orders. The new 164-26 line is steering-gear-room and port-water-tank damage, no visible fire, bound Fujairah. None of those edits is a flag circular, a class condition, or a completed MARPOL finding.
Do not merge Sunday with Monday’s four time-late Hormuz Attack products, with the dedicated 165-26 Sohar UAV file, or with the IMO board’s Monday count of 104. Update 104 is a regional threat note. It names two hulls, keeps Hormuz at SEVERE, and leaves 159-26, 162-26 and 164-26 unnamed. It is not a sanctions list and not a completed weekly IMO board.
What Operators Should Note
- Log Update 104, ICOD 111500 UTC 11 October, not a Hormuz downgrade. JMIC# 001 26. Hormuz SEVERE. Arabian Gulf MODERATE, with 160-26 called an extension of the threat to stationary vessels at UAE anchorages. Gulf of Oman MODERATE. Bab el-Mandeb / southern Red Sea SUBSTANTIAL. 140 incidents since 1 March. Replace Update 103 in the master’s pack. Do not confuse this numbered note with the IMO highlighted-incidents board’s Monday count of 104.
- Name only the two hulls JMIC named. 160-26 is GEM NO.2, at anchor in UAE territorial waters about 11–13 nautical miles off the coast, 1134 UTC 9 October, smoke seen by a nearby master, Indian crew reported safe. Keep the original UKMTO 13-nautical-mile Al Jazeera warning on the same file; do not collapse them. 163-26 is Ocean Molica, also printed as Akira Sun and Victoria Hk, bulk carrier, Gulf of Oman Advisory, propulsion disabled by precision munitions, crew safe. Hold the 10 October disablement / 11 October CENTCOM-report clocks. Industry matching of IMO 9735373 and IMO 9139270 is particulars colour, not a JMIC IMO print.
- Read 159-26, 162-26 and 164-26 as still unnamed, with tighter damage lines. 159-26: 6 October, port aft quarter, lost power, no injuries, tug to Ras Al Khaimah. 162-26: outbound Hormuz, port-side projectile, fire extinguished, damage assessment to come, no longer needs assistance, awaiting orders. 164-26: CSO, port-side hit, steering-gear room and port water tank, no visible fire, no injuries, proceeding to Fujairah. India’s Valthera naming and the Angola Prosperity match remain off this table.
- Keep 161-26 and 165-26 off the confirmed-incidents list. 161-26 stays an advisory: VHF move orders off Ras Al Khaimah, no attacker, no damage, no compliance confirmed. 165-26, the Sohar UAV Attack, is after Sunday’s cut-off on this desk’s reading of the printed table. Monday’s 166-26 through 169-26 are a later UKMTO tape.
- Do not add Sunday’s traffic and blockade numbers into one throughput figure. NCAGS about 29 transits per day over 72 hours. U.S.-facilitated Hormuz transits 8–10 October: 86. Independent series still single-digit each way. BAM cargo transits 8–10 October: 86. CENTCOM 11 October blockade line is 135 redirected, four disabled, two boarded. Update 104 does not reprint a destroyed count. NAVAREA IX 363/26 remains in force until 14 October and is now assessed as likely warning shots by local fishermen; it is still a lookout and reporting problem, not a Houthi projectile file. Asana is still hijacked. Yanbu 5.8 million barrels as of 6 October morning is still a pipeline-recovery line.
- Treat the UAE-anchorage and southern-Omani-corridor watch as live routing, not as a published closure. Update 104 says further projectile or drone incidents could affect tankers at Ras Al Khaimah, Umm al Quwain, Sharjah and possibly Fujairah, and outbound ships in the southern Omani corridor. AIS-off is not a detection shield. The 30-nautical-mile standoff from U.S. units and the NCAGS humanitarian exemption are still blockade procedure, not a 160-26 or 164-26 naming.
Regulas Shipping will keep lining Update 104’s 111500 UTC cut-off against UKMTO 159-26 through 165-26 so operators can treat Sunday’s named hulls, the tug-to-Ras-Al-Khaimah 159-26 line and the UAE-anchorage watch as a live routing pack, not as a Hormuz reopen or a completed Gulf-wide combat-area circular.
