81 ships caught in Gulf war

Press, 16 August 1984, Page 10

81 ships caught in Gulf war

NZPA-AP - London Iran and Iraq have attacked 81 ships plying the Gulf since war broke out four years ago, and officials say insurance companies have paid out more than half a billion dollars for damaged, lost and trapped vessels. The attacks on merchant ships and tankers have reached a record this year with 38 vessels striking mines, being hit by missiles or grounded, according to the Lloyd’s of London Shipping Intelligence Unit. Eighteen crewmen have

been killed and 27 injured, and six ships have been written off as complete losses. Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for most attacks, had its shipping access to the Gulf cut off shortly after the war with Iran began in September, 1980. Its missiles and bombs have attacked ships doing business with Iran. Iraq has vowed to destroy Kharg Island, Teheran’s main oil exporting terminal in the northern end of the Gulf, in an effort to cut off Iran’s oil revenue which

it uses to finance the war. Iran’s United States-made jets have bombed tankers and merchant ships heading for other Gulf countries in an attempt to deter Gulf States like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain from supporting Iraq. But Gulf shipping sources have said the Iranian attacks have been less damaging. Lloyd’s List, the insurance market’s 250-year-old newspaper, reported on May 30 that the total payout by underwriters for about 80 ships trapped in the Shatt

-al-Arab waterway when the war broke out and 67 others attacked during the war would probably be about ?US6OO million. “The figure has obviously gone way up,” said Norman Hooke, assistant operations controller at Lloyd’s, noting that 14 ships had been attacked since that date. Brokers agreed that shipowners who have risked going to the Gulf have not lost money — and probably made a bundle when shipping rates skyrocketed after Iraq tried to blockade Iranian ports in March.