00:00A critical voice on this issue is Arsenio Dominguez. He's the Secretary General of the
00:04International Maritime Organization and a frequent visitor here on our show.
00:08Mr. Secretary, it's nice to see you. Thank you for joining us live on a Sunday. And my first
00:12question is, what is going on in the strait? Are you considering it open, closed? What is the truth
00:18here? We are having a limited number, but an increased number of vessels transiting the
00:26strait of Hormuz. Yesterday and on Friday, the average of vessels that transited the strait
00:32from our records is around 30 vessels. Of course, it's still below the 130 vessels a day, but it's
00:39higher than the very limited numbers of around seven that any now and then would actually transit
00:45in the strait. Most of them are using the traffic separation scheme that temporarily has been
00:51established by Iran. Some others are going through the Omani waters. But what I can tell you is that
00:57we've been very heavily engaged with Oman and the United States in particularly to set up the notice
01:03to mariners in order to start the process of evacuating the vessels. We want to make this as
01:10safe and secure as possible. And of course, it's to avoid collisions. And this is why the information
01:16that we're managing right now, it also has to do with the limited numbers of ships that should be
01:21transiting until we can provide more information. And this is another engagement that we have with
01:27the industry representatives. Mr. Secretary General, let's talk a bit about the information that we have,
01:32you have at your disposal. So you said about 30 ships made it through yesterday. We see from CENTCOM
01:36an estimate of 55 merchant ships transiting that strait yesterday. How difficult is it to ascertain
01:42who's getting through and who isn't? I know that there was some mixed guidance on whether or not
01:46satellites should be turned on or off, the transmitters should be turned on or off.
01:51What do we know about what we don't know at this point?
01:55That's precisely one of the cases. We've been working very closely in the last couple of days
02:01with the Sultanate of Oman and the United States in order to outline the route that it could be used
02:07to evacuate the vessels via the Omani waters. And of course, we need them to send that information
02:13out to all the vessels and inform them to turn off the navigation systems. The Iranians are also
02:21working with us in order to define what is the mechanisms for the ships to report there. But we
02:27don't want vessels to rush and start crossing the straits. We want to avoid collisions. The number that I'm
02:33giving you is related to those IMO number vessels that have been transiting. I'm aware of all the
02:40vessels that are actually not merchant vessels that have been trusted in the straits, some of
02:44their military vessels, but we're not counting on those. So that's why we may need more time to
02:48verify. But what I have for you right now is roughly around 30 vessels on Friday and 30 merchant vessels
02:54on Saturday.
02:57In the Gulf, do we know how many are still stuck and haven't gotten out?
03:03I'm sorry. I think my audio cut out. I heard it myself. Do we know how many vessels are still
03:08waiting to get out? You told us how many have transited. And we've been talking about how many
03:12ships and mariners are still trapped there. Is that number still significant or is it much less than
03:16the last time we spoke? We have around 550 to 600 vessels that need to evacuate the Strait of Hormuz.
03:26I'm talking about the merchant vessels with IMO number, not the vessels like platforms or
03:32offshore supply vessels. And when it comes to seafarers, the gross total, of course, is around
03:3820,000. But 11,000 out of those that normally will transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz.
03:43And those are the numbers that we're working on right now to evacuate.
03:47Does the International Maritime Organization take a position on the prospect of there being
03:50tolls on international waterways like this one? We've heard from the Iranians seemingly some desire
03:57to impose tariffs or tolls on ships making their way through with their blessing. We heard from
04:02the President of the United States in a post on social media in recent hours. There'll be no tolls
04:05unless it's a toll exercised by the U.S. government itself. What is your organization's position on
04:10whether or not there should, in fact, be tolls on waterways like this one?
04:14The organization's position is very clear, and I've been very consistent on this message.
04:18When it comes to Straits for International Navigation, there's no fundamental basis for
04:23an international law to actually introduce or impede this transit by the imposing of tolls or fees.
04:30And that's a message that I've maintained with the countries in the region. Because we need to
04:34take this step by step, and as we are progressing with the positive actions that have been taken
04:38recently, we are exploring what kind of mechanisms we can put in place, voluntary mechanisms within
04:44international law that can assist the countries to manage these heavy transited routes like
04:51international straits. And of course, this is aiming at providing further assistance for aids of
04:57navigations, protection of the environment and security. We've done it in other parts of the world
05:02like Southeast Asia, and there's no reason why we cannot explore those kind of mechanisms.
05:06But anything has to be in accordance with international law, and tolls and fees on these
05:11straits don't have any fundamental principles to be introduced by any specific country.
05:17And you would include an insurance fee in that same. Are you interchanging if there was some
05:23sort of nominal insurance fee that's the same functionally as a toll?
05:28Operations, when it comes to insurers, that goes on the vessels. The reality is that countries,
05:33whenever the vessels call at their ports, for the services that they provide to those vessels,
05:37reaching the air shorelines, they can introduce some kind of actions. But when it comes to insurance,
05:44we manage only those that are prescribed by the international regulations, particularly on liability,
05:50and those are not imposed bilateral or unilateral by countries. Those are in accordance to international
05:56conventions.
05:57Before we let you go, I did want to ask about the status of the mines. I'm wondering, have any
06:00ships
06:01encountered these in the strait? Is there a chance that they're not functional? Do we think there's
06:06still a risk? And how are they getting removed?
06:10Where we have information on the risk of mines in the strait, it's actually on the traffic separation
06:17scheme that has been established by AMO since 1968. That's the intel that we receive. And this is the
06:23reason why, as an extraordinary measure, we're using the route that Iran has actually announced,
06:31as well as the one that we are developing with Oman, in order to evacuate the vessels.
06:36We have information that, of course, in accordance to this agreement, impending the technical
06:41discussions that are starting, Iran is going to demine that area. And of course, there are other
06:47countries that are ready to provide assets and assistance to make sure that the strait is clear.
06:52As soon as that is the case, then, of course, navigation is due to resume using the traffic
06:58separation scheme established by AMO.
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