The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is actively working on an evacuation plan to safely move hundreds of ships that have been stuck in the Persian Gulf. This situation arose following US and Israeli military strikes against Iran, which began over seven weeks prior to April 21, 2026. The plan aims to address the significant backlog of commercial vessels in the region.
According to IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez, the evacuation plan can only be initiated once there are clear indications of de-escalation in the conflict. Additionally, a crucial step before any ships can transit the Strait of Hormuz will be to thoroughly ascertain that no mines have been laid in the waterway. Dominguez made these remarks on the sidelines of Singapore Maritime Week in April 2026.
Separately, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has shown some signs of uptick with the re-emergence of three fully laden India-linked supertankers – the Desh Vibhor, Desh Vaibhav, and Sanmar Herald – in the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea on June 21, 2026. This activity contributes to an observed increase in bi-directional traffic, despite ongoing conflicting narratives regarding transit statuses. However, overall maritime traffic remains significantly below normal levels, with full recovery expected to take many months, as highlighted by figures like Parash Jain from HSBC, who notes that de-mining operations are still underway and significant movement is not anticipated in the short term. Earlier in the year, the US Central Command announced the lifting of a several-month-long naval blockade of the Strait, leading to the beginning of normalization for energy flows and the departure of several Saudi supertankers, including the Shaden, Jaham, and Awtad, with an estimated 31 supertankers carrying approximately 62 million barrels of crude oil preparing to exit the Persian Gulf at one point.
