Executive summary History of attacks on shipping Threats to commercial vessels in the Black Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea Houthi attacks on merchant vessels: A new form of aggression International response to the Houthis’ attacks The shipping industry’s response Improving strategies to counter attacks on shipping Preemptive diversion of shipping Intra-industry risk updates Use of directed-energy weapons Selective protection dependent on flag registration Freedom-of-navigation operations Disrupting the delivery of weapons Armed guards on board Conclusion Executive summary For as long as shipping has existed, merchant vessels have been vulnerable to attacks, especially in wartime. Starting in the beginning of the twentieth century, when international trade expanded rapidly, nations signed a string of treaties to protect merchant vessels from attacks by hostile states. With a few notable exceptions, most importantly the Iran-Iraq “Tanker War” in the 1980s, countries have complied with these rules.
Since the late 2010s, however, there has been a radical increase in state-linked attacks and harassment of merchant vessels. Around that time, Iran and, to a lesser extent, Israel began attacking vessels linked to the other side, primarily in the Strait of Hormuz, a situation that persists. China, for its part, has taken to harassing merchant vessels in the South China Sea in a strategy to enforce its unilateral territorial claims.
The harm imposed on merchant.