Maritime & Shipping, Crude Oil
May 06, 2026
Cargo ship attacked within Strait of Hormuz on May 5: UKMTO
By Claudia Carpenter and Tanya Kalra
Editor:
HIGHLIGHTS
37 incidents reported in the region since March 1
Pirates hold three ships hostage off Somalia
Hijacked dhow likely being used as 'pirate mothership': JMIC
An unidentified cargo ship was attacked by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on May 5.
The incident was reported at 1830 GMT on May 5, UKMTO said. "Environmental impact is unknown," it said.
French carrier CMA CGM on May 6 confirmed an attack on its vessel called CMA CGM SAN ANTONIO.
"The CMA CGM Group confirms that one of its vessels, the CMA CGM SAN ANTONIO, was the target of an attack yesterday while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in injuries among crew members and damage to the vessel," the company told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, over email.
According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea, the 2800 TEU vessel was destined for Mundra port on India's west coast, previously having called Khalifa port in the UAE on April 30.
Two other incidents were reported on May 4, the Joint Maritime Information Center said in a May 5 report, citing UKMTO reports. One involved a cargo ship 36 nautical miles north of Dubai that had a fire in the engine room, and was categorized as "suspicious activity", according to JMIC.
The other was a tanker attack 40 nautical miles off the coast of the UAE, resulting in a fire on deck, JMIC said. The ship was ballast, and its cargo tank was reportedly damaged, it said.
A total of 37 ship incidents have been reported in the Middle East shipping area since March 1. The area mostly includes waters surrounding the Arabian Peninsula into the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and extends to offshore Somalia, where pirates have taken at least three commercial ships since April 21, JMIC said.
Being held hostage are an oil products tanker since April 21, a cement carrier since April 26 and another oil tanker since May 2, according to JMIC.
In addition, a hijacked dhow taken on April 25 "is likely being employed as a pirate mothership, enabling extended-range PAG [pirate action group] operations across the Somali Basin with range out to 500 nautical miles," JMIC said.
