{"id":771,"date":"2026-09-22T03:33:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T03:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regulasshipping.com\/blog\/ukmto-reports-outbound-lpg-tanker-hit-by-projectile-debris-in-hormuz-as-crew-stays-safe\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T03:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T03:34:50","slug":"ukmto-reports-outbound-lpg-tanker-hit-by-projectile-debris-in-hormuz-as-crew-stays-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regulasshipping.com\/blog\/ukmto-reports-outbound-lpg-tanker-hit-by-projectile-debris-in-hormuz-as-crew-stays-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"UKMTO reports outbound LPG tanker hit by projectile debris in Hormuz as crew stays safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) issued a delayed report on Monday, 21 September, of an LPG tanker hit by debris from unknown projectiles while making an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz. The master reported all crew safe and no environmental impact. The tanker was continuing to its next port of call. Authorities were investigating. UKMTO advised ships in the area to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.<\/p>\n

UKMTO did not name the tanker, flag, cargo, owner, manager or a precise position. Anadolu Agency, Arab News, gCaptain and other secondaries repeating the product likewise had no hull identity. The agency described the Monday LPG case as a time-late \/ delayed report from the master, posted in the mid-afternoon UTC window after an earlier inbound-tanker warning the same day.<\/p>\n

This outbound LPG file is distinct from UKMTO Warning 140-26, the inbound unnamed tanker struck by an unknown projectile on Monday morning, in which two crew sustained minor injuries and the ship remained under its own power. Do not merge the two Monday products. One is an inbound hull with casualties; the other is an outbound gas carrier hit by debris, with the crew uninjured and no pollution reported.<\/p>\n

Incident context<\/h2>\n

Monday\u2019s pair of warnings lands on a waterway that is still only a trickle of its pre-war traffic and that has seen a cluster of tanker incidents since mid-September. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told CCC 12 on 16 September that the Secretariat had verified 80 attacks on merchant ships in the Hormuz theatre since 28 February, with 22 seafarer deaths. Pre-war the strait typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels a day.<\/p>\n

gCaptain, citing a Joint Maritime Information Center advisory issued Sunday, said JMIC listed three attacks in the strait between 16 and 18 September, including one tanker struck by a projectile that breached its hull and started a fire. Adding Monday\u2019s inbound hit and the outbound LPG debris case, that is at least five reported tanker attacks or security incidents in the strait since 16 September. JMIC continues to rate the threat in Hormuz as SEVERE, with deliberate hostile action considered highly likely. The center has described IRGC attacks, attempted attacks and harassment, including UAV overflights, surveillance of merchant ships and VHF hailing. UKMTO has not attributed either of Monday\u2019s cases and described the projectiles as unknown.<\/p>\n

The outbound direction matters for gas. An LPG carrier leaving the Gulf is typically coming off a load at Ras Tanura, Ruwais, Ras Laffan or a comparable Gulf terminal, or off an STS in the Gulf of Oman. Debris from unknown projectiles is a different damage mode from a direct hull strike: it can still hole accommodation, puncture a tank dome, damage cargo piping, or take out communications and AIS without a confirmed weapon type or firing point. With the name withheld, counterparties cannot yet screen the ship against the Persian Gulf Steering Authority non-compliance list (77 vessels as of 14 September), OFAC exposure, or recent STS history.<\/p>\n

Visible AIS remains an incomplete picture of who is actually moving. Reuters, citing Kpler, reported on Monday that 17 commodity ships transited over the weekend, down from 37 a week earlier. Five vessels exited on Sunday, including the VLCC Pinios plus two products tankers and two empty bulk\/gas carriers; two small oil tankers entered. Saturday\u2019s mix, in the later Kpler cut, included crude, agricultural products, petroleum products, LNG, LPG and fertiliser. Gulf producers continue to move cargo on hulls with transponders off. gCaptain noted the same gap JMIC has highlighted: independent tracking has shown single-digit transits on some days, while U.S. Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping data indicated flows averaging more than 30 vessels a day in the 72 hours leading up to Sunday. CENTCOM said its forces had redirected 109 commercial vessels to ensure compliance by 20 September, up from 105 on 18 September.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s unnamed files remain separate. Warning 137-26 covered a 16 nautical mile north-east-of-Khasab incident on Thursday, 17 September. A Friday, 18 September product (Warning 139-26 in several secondaries) described an unnamed tanker hit by an unknown projectile, a fire that was extinguished, and all crew safe. IRGC Navy commander Rear Adm. Ali Ozmaei named the Togo-flagged products tanker Trend (IMO 9477177) on Friday as having been hit and stopped; that claim was not independently confirmed as a UKMTO hull. Monday\u2019s LPG product is an outbound gas carrier, debris rather than a confirmed direct projectile, crew safe, no reported pollution \u2014 a different operational picture from an inbound casualty or a named IRGC interdiction.<\/p>\n

Operational implications<\/h2>\n

For owners still using the waterway, \u201call crew safe, proceeding to next port\u201d is not the same as a clear passage. An LPG cargo system that has taken debris needs a condition report before the next discharge, bunker call or STS. Class, P&I and the terminal will want to know whether a tank, cargo line, compressor, reliquefaction unit or accommodation space was involved. Gas carriers also sit in a thinner willing-owner pool than dirty tankers: a single unnamed outbound casualty is enough for charterers to re-check routing, war-risk warranties and crew-nationality limits on the next Ras Laffan or Ruwais stem.<\/p>\n

Debris incidents are easy to under-brief. Projectiles that miss still throw fragments. Masters who only log \u201cno pollution, proceeding\u201d can leave the company without photographs, tank-pressure records or a damage sketch when the flag, class or next port asks. If the ship is bound for an STS off Fujairah or Sohar, the receiving hull and the cargo owner will treat the transfer as a damaged-ship call until proven otherwise.<\/p>\n

The SEVERE JMIC rating and the five-incident week also change how operators should read NCAGS facilitation counts. A 30-plus-ship NCAGS average over 72 hours does not mean the TSS is routine. It means more hulls are moving under military reporting than AIS shows, while IRGC hailing, UAV overflight and projectile debris remain live alongside CENTCOM-facilitated passages and AIS-off commercial liftings. Engine-room and accommodation hits have been a recurring feature of the 2026 Hormuz series; UKMTO previously noted that a large share of projectile strikes since early July have been on the southern Omani side of the strait.<\/p>\n

War-risk, crew-change and ISPS posture do not reset because one LPG carrier reports no injuries. Liberia\u2019s ISPS Level 3 for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden remains a separate theatre. Hormuz itself continues to mix CENTCOM-facilitated passages, Iranian-route transits, shuttle and STS chains off Fujairah and Sohar, and occasional mine or projectile claims. Masters still have to treat UKMTO, JMIC and NAVAREA IX products as live, even when the last named casualty is days old.<\/p>\n

What Operators Should Note<\/h2>\n