The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has proposed the creation of a “safe shipping corridor” in the Strait of Hormuz, as dozens of countries look for solutions to unblock the crucial shipping channel that carries a fifth of the world’s hydrocarbon exports, Lloyd’s List reported on March 18.

A group of countries including Bahrain, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Singapore and the UAE has proposed a “provisional and urgent measure” to allow merchant ships to exit the high-risk area.

“A significant number of seafarers and merchant vessels remain stranded in the gulf, and some action is needed to address this problem,” the submission to the IMO Council said.

The idea follows on from a similar Black Sea corridor established in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Black Sea Grain Initiative was implemented in 2022 to reopen the export of grain from Ukraine after Russia blockaded Ukraine ports. The deal briefly allowed Ukraine’s grain export to resume, but the deal collapsed after six months.

A similar solution in Hormuz would be much harder to implement. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) closed the strait down on March 2 and last week introduced an informal permits-for-passage system that is only allowing oil tankers from “friendly countries” to pass. Specifically, the IRGC has said ships under Israeli or US flags may not pass or those carrying cargo bound for those markets.

The proposed scheme is made even harder to implement as passage through the straits is currently controlled by one of the 31 autonomous units the IRGC has created after it triggered its Decentralized Mosaic Defence doctrine (DMD). These units have no central command with which the IMO could negotiate and are acting according to sealed ordered issues prior to the war.

Industry groups and delegates say the safe corridor is also needed to provision the approximately 75 ships trapped in the Persian Gulf. Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and the UAE said in a statement: “There is a need for the provision of water, food, fuel and other essential supplies, as well as facilitating crew changes of ships.”

The broader Gulf region is also under pressure as not only is oil and gas shipped out of the Gulf, most of the countries in the region are heavily dependent on food imports as there is little domestic agriculture in the region. As bne IntelliNews reported, Dubai in the UAE is due to run out of fresh fruit and vegetables tomorrow. Officials warned that flight and shipping interruptions could delay the delivery of critical supplies by up to six months, increasing pressure on global logistics chains.

Geopolitical tensions are also spilling over into the IMO discussions. Some 92 countries have called for a formal declaration condemning Iran for attacks on shipping, while Russia, China and Iran have opposed the motion. Tehran maintains its actions are purely defensive following an unprovoked attack by Israel and denies the strait is closed after it began allowing selected tankers exit.

Russia criticised what it described as an unbalanced debate, saying: “You get the impression nobody has a care about the civilians in Iran,” while arguing that Western military actions contribute to the current risks to shipping.