ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Coming up this hour, join me as I learn about how a food delivery man in China has become a celebrated poet. And I talked to a sailor who is solo piloting his way around massive chunks of ice through the Russian Arctic.
But first, we will hear from an expert overseeing a different kind of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz because today, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council issued a list of demands that it says the U.S. needs to meet before the Strait of Hormuz can open. But this week, U.S. officials had said that talks were progressing to let the ships pass safely through the waterway. Meanwhile, hundreds of ships remain in limbo.
Tim Wilkins knows many of these ships and their owners and is following the situation in the strait. He's managing director of an industry group, Intertanko, which represents oil, chemical and gas tankers. Welcome.
TIM WILKINS: Thanks very much, Rob. Nice to meet you.
SCHMITZ: So what is it like right now for a tanker moving through the Strait of Hormuz?
WILKINS: The situation right now in the Strait of Hormuz remains severe. We are still having vessels being targeted by drones and by missiles, and the number of tankers transiting through the Strait is massively reduced compared to what it was pre-conflict. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, U.S. facilitated transits of about 11, 13, and then 15 were planned last night, so we assume that these have been successful.
SCHMITZ: You said that some of them have been targeted. Tell me a little bit more about that.
WILKINS: In the last 7 to 10 days, we've had a host of targeted vessels that have been transiting through there - either missiles or drones. Bearing in mind now, these vessels with seafarers on board, they're transiting. They've been given approval to transit through certain routes, so it's often unexpected and unplanned when these vessels have been attacked.
SCHMITZ: And what was the damage like?
WILKINS: The damage was pretty significant. In particular, we had quite a severe situation last week where we had a gas tanker which was hit and did -unfortunately, had to be evacuated. A fire did break out. This was one of the U.S.-facilitated transits that this gas carrier was being sort of transited through by night. So, you know, even with the U.S. facilitated, there are still risks, and it doesn't eliminate that risk of an attack.
SCHMITZ: What kind of presence does the U.S. military have in that type of scenario when a tanker is hit?
WILKINS: So U.S.-facilitated effectively means that those vessels have reported to the U.S. naval assets that are in the region. You might recall that the U.S. has a blockade in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz at the moment, so there are U.S. Naval assets in that region.
And what's happening is those vessels are contacting the U.S. They're transiting through what we call the southern or the Oman route. And those transits are being tracked basically by those assets. What we're being told is that those sort of naval assets are ready to intercept, and they have planes ready. But to all intents and purposes, those vessels are basically transiting and being monitored. That's basically the term of a U.S.-facilitated transit.
SCHMITZ: Understood. So we don't - it's not like a U.S. vessel is actually guiding a tanker through this area?
WILKINS: Not at all. And it's not as if you're going to have fighter jets overhead and naval vessels alongside or anything like that. Not at all. Yeah. It's very much a monitoring type of situation.
SCHMITZ: Got it. So tell me more about this route that the U.S. has carved along the coast of Oman.
WILKINS: There is something called the traffic separation scheme that goes right through the Strait of Hormuz, and that's been established since the late '60s. That's the international recognized strait. That, unfortunately, is one of the areas that is heavily mined right now.
SCHMITZ: Wow.
WILKINS: And what's happened is there's a northern route, which goes through Iranian waters - has opened up, and there have been sort of about single-digit, some double-digit figures of transits going through that Iranian route. And then there's a southern route, and it's the southern route that goes through Oman waters, which is being sort of termed as sort of the U.S.-facilitated route. The consent here is that you're sending these vessels through a route that is very close to the coast, isn't often used, hasn't been used really traditionally for 30 or 40 years for larger laden tankers. You know, these are 300,000-ton vessels laden with crude oil going close to the coast or being forced to go close to the coast.
SCHMITZ: Now, Tim, all of this sounds quite dangerous, and, you know, as a result, you mentioned that there are only 11 to 15 vessels going each night, and that's in comparison to around 150 vessel transits that we saw back in January, right?
WILKINS: Correct. Absolutely. So it's significantly lower. Let's take a step back. We are in a situation where the allied forces - those are the naval forces in the region - terming this a severe situation due to vessels again being targeted.
It's not a situation that's going to change overnight. There's a lot of things that have to happen. So regardless of this big negotiations that are going on at a high political level, there's some very practical issues that have to be resolved on the water, if you like, before you can get anywhere near that 150 transits a day again.
SCHMITZ: You know, as we talk about these big negotiations happening between the Trump administration and Iran, what kind of agreement would they need to see in order to make groups like yours feel safe to make a transit?
WILKINS: We've been calling for, first and foremost, mine clearance, to start. Start clearing the main sort of area of mines. And we know that there are, you know, French, U.K. forces ready to step in as soon as Iran gives the green light and allows them into that area. So that would be the first thing, mine clearance.
Ships should be assured that they will no longer be subject to attacks. That's something that absolutely has to be critical. So there needs to be that sort of assurance that the command and control system from Tehran down to those forces that are manning the Strait of Hormuz - that is critical. We want assurance that that is in place and vessels will no longer be attacked.
And then just some basic fundamental navigational safety points need to put in place. A single point of contact, for example, you know - who will manage the transit of these vessels? How will they manage transit times? Do vessels have to book a slot? So all these fundamental things that, at the high negotiating table, need to trickle down to members, the tanker industry, the wider tanker industry, before they will resume trade, you know, as they did before the conflict.
SCHMITZ: That is Tim Wilkins, managing director of the tanker industry group Intertanko. Thank you.
WILKINS: Thanks very much, Rob.
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