Originally Posted by
BonnieLass
They do. However as has been seen before, the radar signature and the actual vessel can differ. There have already been cases of merchant ships that had been anchored close to the Khasab - Ramchah line being ordered via VHF radio by Iran to move away from that line of ships, at least one was fired upon in the last 24 hours (thankfully no-one hurt and no damage done). The skiffs have also been harrassing ships that do not move away fast enough. It appears that any vessel within sight range of the line is being shifted away. Ships that have been anchored off Ras Al Khaimah are being ordered out of that area by Iran.
The average length of the cargo ships in the line is 65m, ample space to hide skiffs in its shadow. Once AIS is turned off the ship will become invisible, hence why it is a legal obligation to leave the system switched on even at anchor. These Iranian cargo ships are going dark as soon as they have anchored, the AIS signals are showing til 24 hours pass, after that unless you actually look for them via AIS (if you know their IMO identification or name) you will be hard pressed to see them and the skiffs rarely if ever have AIS transponders.
At the same time that Iran has been building the line of ships on the Khasab-Ramchah line, the Houthi have increased their harrassment and attempted hijacking at Bab-el-Mandab. Given that the Houthi are aligned with Iran, it is more than coincidental that both major shipping route choke points are experiencing raised activity levels. All of the above is being confirmed by UKMTO.
Thank you Bonnie Lass for this and your other posts with these details. Most helpful. 👍