[헤럴드경제=김성훈 기자] While Iran is attacking civilian ships in the Gulf and nearby waters, including the Strait of Hormuz, it has been reported that ships passing nearby are disguising themselves as Chinese ships to avoid Iranian attacks. The expectation is that ships from China, an ally of Iran, will not be attacked.
According to an analysis of data from the maritime traffic data platform ‘Marine Traffic‘ by the British daily Financial Times (FT) on the 6th (local time), in the past week, at least 10 ships have changed the destination signal input to the ship’s automatic identification device (transponder) to ‘Chinese ship owner’, ‘All Chinese crew’, ‘Chinese crew on board’, etc.
The ship’s transponder signal is mainly used under the captain’s management to communicate with nearby ships to prevent collisions, and the ‘destination’ input field can be easily modified.
The ship named ‘Iron Maiden’ passed through the Strait of Hormuz on the 4th and briefly changed its signal to ‘Chinese Shipowner’ until it reached the waters near Oman.
In addition, a fuel tanker named ‘Bogazici’ entered the name ‘Muslim Ship Turkiye’ while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on the 28th of last month, the first day of the war, and restored its original name when it reached a safe place.
Some ships manipulate GPS signals to disrupt weapons. In this case, it is said that they appear as if they are overlapping and clustered together on the shipping data platform.
The FT said, “It is unclear whether the Iranian military or its proxies actually treat ships claiming links to China differently,” but added, “Seafarers appear willing to try anything to reduce the risk of being targeted.”
According to Lloyd’s Markets Association (LMA), around 1,000 ships are currently stranded in the Gulf and nearby waters.
paq@heraldcorp.com
