The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center published Update 108 to its regional advisory note with an information cut-off of 251300 UTC on 25 October. The note, JMIC# 001 26, is the first numbered public update since Update 107 of 22 October. The regional threat level remains SEVERE. Hormuz remains SEVERE. The Arabian Gulf remains SUBSTANTIAL. The Gulf of Oman stays MODERATE. The Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb / the southern Red Sea stay SUBSTANTIAL. Confirmed vessel incidents since 1 March are now printed as 156, up from 155 on Update 107. The confirmed-incidents table adds one file since the last report: UKMTO 181-26, name withheld until further notice, logged as an LPG tanker Attack in the Strait of Hormuz. The narrative says the hull was hit by an unknown projectile about seven nautical miles northeast of Limah, Oman, on 22 October while transiting outbound, that no casualties and no environmental impact were reported, and that the vessel is now at anchor off Khor Fakkan.
That is the working primary. Sunday’s note is a numbered regional instrument, not a Hormuz reopen, not a rewrite of Friday’s dedicated Warning 181-26, and not a rewrite of Saturday’s dedicated NAVAREA IX 403/26 and 404/26 pieces. It is also not Update 107. Update 107’s cut-off was 221300 UTC on 22 October, more than four hours before 181-26’s 1715 UTC incident clock, and that Attack sat on its own dedicated piece because the regional note could not yet carry it. The International Maritime Organization’s highlighted-incidents board remains 120 confirmed incidents as at 22 October, with 24 confirmed seafarer fatalities. Those are different counters. The useful facts for a DPA and a bridge team are the first JMIC conversion of 181-26 from an unnamed tanker that continued passage into an unnamed LPG tanker now at anchor off Khor Fakkan, the 156-incident tally, the 25 October congestion print of about 194 hulls at Fujairah / Khor Fakkan and about 492 waiting outside the Strait, the 22–24 October U.S.-facilitated Hormuz count of 101, and the outlook that still treats further Hormuz attacks as highly likely. Do not treat Friday’s unnamed Attack PDF as a substitute for this numbered note, and do not treat Update 107 as still the current public instrument.
What Update 108 actually added
Update 107’s information cut-off was 221300 UTC on 22 October. It already carried 178-26 through 180-26, named Chloe, Al Dasma and Soyia, printed 155 incidents since 1 March, and left 181-26 off the list because that incident sat after the cut-off. Update 108 does not reprint that named table and does not downgrade Hormuz or the Arabian Gulf. It adds the one product that had cleared confirmation by 251300 UTC on 25 October, and it is the first numbered JMIC note to type 181-26 as an LPG tanker and to place that hull at anchor off Khor Fakkan.
On 181-26, Update 108 withholds the name. UKMTO received a report that on 22 October an LPG tanker was hit by an unknown projectile approximately seven nautical miles northeast of Limah, Oman, while transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz. No casualties and no environmental impact were reported. The vessel is now at anchor off Khor Fakkan. That is the first JMIC print on the hull that sat as Friday’s dedicated unnamed Warning 181-26. Dedicated 181-26 remains an unnamed tanker Attack, source Company Security Officer, time-late, 1715 UTC, and the PDF said the tanker was able to continue its voyage to the next port of call. JMIC now types the hull as an LPG tanker and prints an anchorage off Khor Fakkan. Hold both status lines. Do not invent a name, a flag, an IMO number, a cargo grade, a projectile type, a fire, or an attacker. Do not collapse Saturday’s dedicated NAVAREA IX 404/26 Ghana Prosperity anchorage, 4.5 nautical miles south of Jazirat Musandam, onto this Limah / Khor Fakkan file. Do not collapse Saturday’s dedicated NAVAREA IX 403/26 Cape Dao “reported sunk” row onto it. IMO’s board as at 22 October still does not carry 181-26. Do not treat Update 108 as an IMO increment past 120, as a 181-26 PDF naming, or as a completed class survey.
The Arabian Gulf operational summary is the paragraph that should replace Update 107’s version in the master’s pack. No confirmed attacks or disruptions were reported in this period. On 23 October UAE authorities confirmed oil pollution on the Umm Al Quwain coastline from a tanker damaged in an earlier attack; clean-up is under way. That sentence is wrap on Friday’s dedicated ministry confirmation. It is not a ministry naming of Gem No. 2, not a volume, and not a rewrite of IMO’s Gem No. 2 “No pollution” row. Traffic flows continued, with anchorage congestion high across the region. The 24–48-hour outlook is unchanged in kind: five attacks inside the Gulf since 7 October show that attacks remain a strong possibility throughout the Arabian Gulf, including at anchorages and STS areas off Iraq. Vessels stationary for extended periods, or maintaining AIS-on while static, may face elevated targeting risk.
The Strait of Hormuz summary carries one Attack in the period, 181-26. On 24 October NAVAREA IX 404/26 reported the oil tanker Ghana Prosperity, previously involved in a security incident, at anchor approximately 4.5 nautical miles south of Jazirat Musandam. That is wrap on Saturday’s dedicated 404/26 piece, not a second Ghana Prosperity attack and not a UKMTO naming. IRGC attacks, attempted attacks and harassment persisted, including UAV overflight, targeted surveillance of merchant shipping and occasional VHF hailing. Commercial traffic through the Strait remained at reduced levels against the 2025 baseline of about 138 vessels a day. Independent tracking still indicated single-digit transits. U.S. NCAGS data indicated U.S.-assisted flows averaging about 28 vessel transits a day. U.S.-facilitated Strait of Hormuz transits for 22–24 October, the past 72 hours, are printed as 101. Do not add the 101, the 28-a-day series and the independent single-digit series into one throughput figure. Mariners are still advised to remain vigilant for attempted mining within and adjacent to the traffic-separation scheme. AIS-on vessels can expect elevated targeting risk and directed hails instructing them to divert toward the northern Iranian-controlled route. A 30-nautical-mile standoff from U.S. units remains advised. The humanitarian-cargo exemption via NAVCENT NCAGS is still the published tool.
What sits off the list, and the traffic that moved
Sunday’s cut-off is 251300 UTC on 25 October. Update 108 does not print a new numbered UKMTO warning after 181-26. It does not print a new Bab el-Mandeb Attack, a named Pride wreck survey, or an IMO-board move off 120. 176-26 remains unnamed on this desk’s dedicated Mukalla piece. Chloe, Al Dasma and Soyia stay on Update 107. Cape Dao’s “reported sunk” NAVAREA and Ghana Prosperity’s Musandam anchorage stay on Saturday’s dedicated hydrographic pieces. The IRGC Navy’s 22 October four-plus-three claim stays on Thursday’s dedicated file; Update 108 does not substantiate a mine cluster. UKMTO still ends at 181-26.
The Gulf of Oman summary says no confirmed attack or disruption was reported in this period. Naval presence remained elevated because of blockade enforcement. The latest official CENTCOM figures cited in Update 108, dated 17 October, are unchanged from Update 107: 138 commercial vessels redirected; four vessels had been disabled as of 10–11 October. No further CENTCOM blockade-enforcement action was announced in this period. Neutral transit remains permitted. Visit-and-search, AIS-on unless constrained by security threats, and continuous monitoring of VHF Channel 16 are still the published tools. The Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, southern Red Sea / Bab el-Mandeb, Somali Coast, northern Red Sea / Suez and Eastern Mediterranean paragraphs are marked no change. 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. Bab el-Mandeb cargo transits for 22–24 October, the past 72 hours, are printed as 58 against a 2023 baseline of about 61 vessels a day. The last confirmed Houthi attack on a merchant vessel on this note remains 24 August. The southwest monsoon subsided on 15 October; skiff operations further offshore are printed as more feasible.
Port and anchorage congestion is printed as of 25 October and is the other operator paragraph. About 194 vessels were at anchor in the vicinity of Fujairah / Khor Fakkan, down from the 22 October print of about 201 and from the 18 October peak of 217. About 178 were off Dubai / Jebel Ali to Ras Al Khaimah, down from about 188. About 55 were in the vicinity of Musandam / Sohar, up from about 53. About 32 were off Bandar Abbas / Qeshm, up from about 22. Apart from Bandar Abbas / Qeshm, no group crossed the plus-or-minus 10 percent threshold, and there was no mass departure or new cluster. Approximately 492 vessels were waiting outside the Strait of Hormuz, against single-digit to low-double-digit AIS-visible transits, down from about 501 on 22 October; the backlog is expected to persist. All tracking excludes AIS-dark vessels. Periodic repositioning remains advisable in all areas. The 18 October tug attack in the Khor Fakkan approaches, UKMTO 177-26, still sits under that density.
The annex is the traffic colour Friday’s 181-26 piece and Saturday’s NAVAREA files did not have. Independent cargo-vessel transits through the Strait, S&P Maritime / SeaVision, excluding Iranian-port callers, are printed as 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 3 and 1 for 18 through 24 October. Independent tanker transits for the same week are 2, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1 and 0. 24 October prints one cargo transit westbound and zero tanker transits. Do not add those independent figures to the 101 U.S.-facilitated count. UKMTO’s own transit, latest-incidents and AIS-anomaly boards are marked not updated since 22 October.
GNSS / AIS interference in the Arabian Gulf increased. It is concentrated in the western Gulf from Kuwait / Khafji via Dammam to Bahrain and along the UAE coast from Abu Dhabi to Ras Al Khaimah. Windward recorded 293 jammed vessels and 8,487 false STS meetings in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman on 21 October. UKMTO recorded 18,049 anomalous AIS positions in Voluntary Reporting Area weekly overview No. 12, produced 23 October. That weekly is wrap on this note, not a second dedicated product. The Strait of Hormuz and the Batinah–Fujairah coast of the Gulf of Oman remained at the established baseline. In the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, no significant GNSS interference was observed; Windward recorded 12 jammed vessels in the Red Sea on 21 October. No new specific UKMTO, MARAD, NAVCENT or NAVAREA IX GNSS/EMI notices were issued 22–25 October. Baseline advisories remain in force.
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 one more Attack cleared the table. The Arabian Gulf column did not move either. It stays SUBSTANTIAL. What moved is the 181-26 type-and-anchorage line, the incident tally from 155 to 156, the congestion print from about 201 hulls at Fujairah / Khor Fakkan down to about 194, with about 492 still waiting outside the Strait, and the GNSS colour from Windward’s 20 October 211 jammed / 760 false-STS print to a 21 October 293 jammed / 8,487 false-STS print. Masters who still brief the region as Update 107 will have the wrong instrument in the folder. Masters who brief Sunday as a Hormuz downgrade will have the wrong scale on the chart.
The 181-26 paragraph is a briefing-discipline problem, not a new casualty. Friday’s dedicated Attack PDF left the Limah tanker unnamed, untyped beyond “tanker,” and under way to the next port of call. Update 108 is the first numbered JMIC note that types that hull as an LPG tanker and places it at anchor off Khor Fakkan. It does not convert the dedicated PDF into a named product. It does not convert “continued voyage” into a completed damage survey. A master’s pack that briefs “JMIC named the Limah LPG” has over-read a withheld row. A pack that briefs the hull as still steaming because Friday’s PDF said it continued, or as a wreck because Saturday’s Cape Dao NAVAREA said reported sunk, has collapsed three instruments. Hold the PDF, the JMIC anchorage, and the two Saturday NAVAREA files as separate sheets.
The Khor Fakkan anchorage line is the other operator fact. Update 108 now parks an unnamed LPG tanker from 181-26 in the same density that already holds about 194 hulls at Fujairah / Khor Fakkan and that already saw 177-26 in the approaches on 18 October. Vessels stationary for extended periods, or maintaining AIS-on while static, may face elevated targeting risk. Harbour assists, wreck response and disabled-hull tows operating in that density are in the same watch as shuttle tankers. AIS-off is not a detection shield and is not an order on this note. Do not merge Ghana Prosperity’s 4.5-nautical-mile Musandam anchorage onto the Khor Fakkan line.
CSOs should replace the 22 October Update 107 pack with Update 108 in the master’s folder and in the charterer’s security clause file. The new typed line is 181-26, LPG tanker, name withheld, now at anchor off Khor Fakkan. The new tally is 156 since 1 March. The new congestion line is about 194 hulls in the vicinity of Fujairah / Khor Fakkan as of 25 October and about 492 waiting outside the Strait. The new facilitated count is 101 U.S.-assisted Hormuz transits over 22–24 October. The new GNSS colour is Windward’s 21 October print of 293 jammed vessels and 8,487 false STS events, and UKMTO Report No. 12’s 18,049 anomalous AIS positions. None of those edits is a flag circular, a class condition, or a completed MARPOL finding. Do not replace Friday’s dedicated 181-26 PDF, Saturday’s dedicated 403/26 and 404/26 pieces, or Thursday’s dedicated IMO 120-count. They are different instruments. Update 108 is the numbered regional threat note that now sits on top of Update 107.
Do not recast Sunday as a UKMTO naming in the original 181-26 PDF, as a Hormuz reopen, as a rewrite of Warning 181-26, as a rewrite of Saturday’s NAVAREA files, or as an IMO-board move off 120. IMO’s 120 and JMIC’s 156 are different datasets. Masters who brief Sunday as Update 107 still in force, or as UKMTO finally printing an LPG name on the Limah PDF, will have misread the instrument.
What Operators Should Note
- Log Update 108, ICOD 251300 UTC 25 October, not a Hormuz downgrade. JMIC# 001 26. Regional threat SEVERE. Hormuz SEVERE. Arabian Gulf SUBSTANTIAL. Gulf of Oman MODERATE. Gulf of Aden SUBSTANTIAL. Bab el-Mandeb / southern Red Sea SUBSTANTIAL. 156 incidents since 1 March, one Attack since Update 107 (181-26). Replace Update 107 in the master’s pack. Do not confuse this numbered note with the IMO highlighted-incidents board’s count of 120 as at 22 October, and do not stretch it to a Warning 182-26 that has not been issued.
- Type 181-26 as JMIC typed it, and hold Friday’s PDF beside it. Name withheld. LPG tanker. Unknown projectile about seven nautical miles northeast of Limah, outbound Hormuz, 22 October. No casualties, no environmental impact on this note. Now at anchor off Khor Fakkan. Dedicated Warning 181-26 remains an unnamed tanker Attack, 1715 UTC, that continued to the next port of call. Do not invent a hull, a flag, an IMO number, or an attacker. Do not merge Ghana Prosperity / 404/26 or Cape Dao / 403/26 onto this row.
- Treat the Fujairah density and the 492-vessel wait as live routing, not as a published closure. About 194 vessels were at anchor IVO Fujairah / Khor Fakkan as of 25 October, down from about 201 on 22 October; about 178 Dubai / Jebel Ali to Ras Al Khaimah; about 55 Musandam / Sohar; about 32 Bandar Abbas / Qeshm, the only group that crossed the 10 percent move. About 492 waiting outside the Strait against single-digit to low-double-digit AIS-visible transits. 177-26 still shows that density is exposed outside the Strait. Periodic repositioning remains advisable. Stationary AIS-on hulls may face elevated targeting risk.
- Do not add Sunday’s traffic and blockade numbers into one throughput figure. NCAGS about 28 assisted transits a day. U.S.-facilitated Hormuz transits 22–24 October: 101. Independent cargo series 18–24 October: 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 3, 1. Independent tanker series: 2, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0. BAM cargo transits 22–24 October: 58. CENTCOM 17 October blockade line is still 138 redirected; four disabled remains the 10–11 October figure. Asana is still hijacked. The last confirmed Houthi merchant attack on this note remains 24 August.
- Keep the mining watch and the raised GNSS baseline. Update 108 still flags attempted mining within and adjacent to the TSS, AIS-on targeting risk, and directed hails toward the northern Iranian-controlled route. The 30-nautical-mile standoff from U.S. units and the NCAGS humanitarian exemption are still blockade procedure. GNSS increased in the western Gulf and along the UAE coast. Windward’s 21 October print is 293 jammed vessels and 8,487 false STS events. UKMTO Report No. 12 printed 18,049 anomalous AIS positions. No new UKMTO, MARAD, NAVCENT or NAVAREA IX GNSS/EMI notice was issued 22–25 October. Cross-check with radar and visual navigation.
- Leave the dedicated PDFs and Saturday’s NAVAREA files on their own pieces. 181-26 remains Friday’s dedicated Limah Attack. 179-26 / Al Dasma, 180-26 / Soyia and 178-26 / Chloe remain Update 107’s namings. 403/26 and 404/26 remain Saturday’s dedicated hydrographic pieces. Friday’s dedicated Umm Al Quwain ministry confirmation remains the spill file; Update 108’s clean-up sentence is wrap. Thursday’s IMO 120-count remains the IMO instrument. Watch the next numbered warning, Update 109, or an IMO-board move off 120 — not a Hormuz reopen and not a retroactive naming of the 181-26 PDF.
Regulas Shipping will keep lining Update 108’s 251300 UTC cut-off against Friday’s Warning 181-26, and against Saturday’s NAVAREA IX 403/26 and 404/26, so operators can treat Sunday’s LPG-tanker type line, the Khor Fakkan anchorage and the 156-incident tally as a live routing pack, not as a Hormuz reopen or a naming of the original Limah PDF.
