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Ships navigating the Gulf are encountering serious challenges as their tracking alerts are being disrupted, leading to confusion about their actual locations. In a recent incident on Sunday, the large oil tanker Front Tyne was traveling between Iran and the United Arab Emirates when, at 9:40 AM, tracking data mistakenly placed the vessel far away in Russia, in a region known for barley and sugar beet production. However, the tanker was nowhere near Russia at that time.
Just a few hours later, around 4:15 PM, the data indicated that the ship was in southern Iran, near the city of Bidkhun. Yet, the signals continued to fluctuate, showing the vessel jumping back and forth across the Gulf. Experts believe this unusual behavior is not a malfunction in the ship’s system; rather, they assert that the signals are being intentionally jammed, a growing concern in this region.
Shipping analysis firm Windward reports that nearly 1,000 vessels in the Gulf have faced signal disruptions since the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated. On Tuesday, two oil tankers collided south of the Strait of Hormuz—a narrow yet critical waterway that facilitates a significant portion of the world’s oil shipments. Following the crash, both ships caught fire, one of which was the Front Eagle, comparable in size to the Front Tyne, measuring over three football fields in length. Just days earlier, on June 15, tracking data from Kpler, a commodity information platform, indicated that the Front Eagle was onshore in Iran, which is impossible for a ship of that size.
Typically, signal interference is minimal in the Strait of Hormuz, but it has significantly increased lately. Ami Daniel, the head of Windward, highlighted that this situation heightens risks for ships in the area. When vessels cannot be accurately tracked, the likelihood of accidents rises, especially in such a tense and hazardous environment. Ships are expected to transmit regular updates regarding their location, speed, and direction using a system called the Automatic Identification System (AIS), akin to GPS for vessels. However, these systems can be disrupted.
If a ship's crew intentionally alters its signal to obscure its destination or cargo, it's referred to as spoofing. However, in the Gulf, experts suggest that third parties are responsible for the jamming, meaning outsiders are interfering with GPS signals. Dimitris Ampatzidis, an analyst at Kpler, explained that such jamming is prevalent in conflict zones. Military forces often use jamming to obscure their ships or protect other targets from detection.
This isn’t the first time jamming has impacted shipping; similar disturbances were noted in the Black Sea during Russian assaults on Ukrainian ports, in the Taiwan Strait, and near Syria and Israel. Just last month, several vessels appeared to be located inland at Port Sudan due to such interference.
Jim Scorer, Secretary General of the International Federation of Shipmasters Associations, pointed out that modern ships heavily depend on digital systems. When GPS signals are jammed, crews must navigate without accurate electronic guidance, complicating their tasks and heightening safety risks. Back in March, the International Maritime Organization and other UN bodies raised alarms about the increasing number of incidents involving interference with global navigation systems.
In another case of spoofing, a US-sanctioned oil tanker named Xi Wang Mu appeared earlier this year to be situated at a temple in India, which was likely a deliberate mislocation highlighted by Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Tracking data also revealed the Front Tyne moving over land on June 15, underscoring how critical the interference issue has become.
