Transit through the reopened Strait of Hormuz is now fraught with compliance risks that leave shippers caught between Iranian demands for coordinated or possibly tolled exits and US penalties for those who obey, researcher Kpler said on Tuesday.
The essence of its research note entitled "Hormuz sanctions risk starts before payment - the OFAC warning every operator needs to understand", is that shippers run the risk of sanctions of punitive measures by the US even through evidence of contact and coordination of their exit with Iran.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control warned on May 1 that US and non-US citizens alike faced a risk of sanctions for payments to Iran or the seeking of safe passage guarantees from it, regardless of how any payment was made, even as a humanitarian or charitable donation or via crypto-currency.
While the industry has subsequently focused on payments, Kpler points out that the risk OFAC warns of starts at the moment of any engagement with Iranian authorities, such as sharing ship details, requesting clearance or accepting an escort from parties under sanctions.
"The sanctions architecture underpinning Hormuz risk is not new, but its application in this context is sharper than many compliance teams have accounted for," the report by Kpler Trade Risk Analyst Ana Subasic said.
Given that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has been listed as a terrorist organization since 2019 in the US, with sanctions in place, any dealings with it entail secondary sanctions exposure regardless of intent or nationality.
Secondary sanctions are also triggered regardless of any US connection to the transaction, meaning a European ship owner, Asian charterer or non-US bank for example, all carry exposure risk.
Submitting information in advance of a planned transit through the strait or receiving instructions for a coordinated passage already creates a record of contact with Iran that exposes not only the requesting shipper, but potentially anyone involved in financing or insuring their voyage.
"Banks that identify Hormuz passage-related submissions to Iranian authorities in a vessel's voyage record may decline to finance subsequent transactions. Insurers may treat the record of clearance coordination as a material fact in claims reviews," the report said.
Charterers of vessels may object outright to any such voyage, Kpler noted.
"If a vessel operator reaches the point of being asked for payment - whether framed as a toll, a security guarantee, an escort fee or a humanitarian contribution - they face a genuinely difficult commercial and legal position."
Refusing to pay provides legal security but also entails delays and the possibility of remaining stranded in the Persian Gulf.
Payments through intermediaries provide no security either, given explicit advice in the OFAC advisory that what counts is the eventual provision of value to a sanctioned party.
"There is no cost-free path through this decision. What distinguishes well-managed from poorly managed exposure is not which path is chosen - it is whether the decision is made deliberately, documented contemporaneously, and consistent with a legal and compliance review conducted before the voyage began," the report said.
Kpler notes that insurance remains available for passage through the strait but that the sharp rise in its price raises the question of who should foot the bill for the extra amount and who covers the cost of any additional waiting time to comply with the demands of various parties.
Documentation is critical for shippers in this situation, in terms of justifying the path they choose, the report said, including, for example, deviation from an agreed route due to a credible security threat.
"Organisations that treat documentation as an administrative afterthought are not just operationally exposed. They are commercially exposed, because the cost of an undocumented decision in a Hormuz transit dispute will materially exceed the cost of building the record as the voyage unfolds," Kpler said.