October has seen the highest number of ship attacks on record in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waterways, Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Reuters. Raydan, who maintains the institute's interactive shipping incident map, has recorded 28 confirmed and reported attacks in October and 113 since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28.

Source: Reuters via WNCY

The tally broadly aligns with data from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which recorded a total of 120 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East since the conflict with Iran began, Reuters reported. A Reuters review of the IMO list and MarineTraffic vessel data showed more than 30 supertankers, or Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), were damaged, including 11 in October alone.

Source: Reuters via WNCY — IMO data

Each VLCC can carry about 2 million barrels of crude — yaani 20 lakh barrels per ship. The damaged vessels account for about 3.5% of the total global VLCC fleet, which exceeds 900 ships, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via WNCY

More tankers came under attack as shipowners became increasingly willing to load cargoes inside the Gulf, lured by daily freight rates exceeding $1 million — yaani 10 lakh dollars, or more than one million dollars, per ship per day — and steeper discounts offered by regional producers against dated Brent, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via WNCY

"October 2026 has emerged as the most intense period of maritime attacks in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the escalation of hostilities in March," Greece-based consultancy Marisks said, as quoted by Reuters. The strait is a key route for Gulf oil and gas exports, including supplies that matter to India and to Punjabi and Indian workers across the Gulf.

Source: Reuters via WNCY — Marisks