An ADNOC Logistics & Services vessel was damaged in an attack inside UAE territorial waters on Tuesday afternoon, the company confirmed. The strike adds to a growing list of attacks on commercial shipping in the Arabian Gulf as the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran enters its 256th day.
The company is the maritime logistics arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. It did not name the ship or say how badly it was hit. In a statement carried by the Emirates News Agency, WAM, it said response teams were working on the incident and that more information would follow. The vessel remained safe and operational, with its systems under control, while an assessment of the damage got under way. The UAE condemned the attack.
What is known about the ADNOC incident
Few other details have emerged. ADNOC L&S gave no account of how the vessel was struck. It asked the public to rely only on official sources and not to circulate rumours or unverified reports.
The episode is not the first of its kind for the company. ADNOC L&S has previously confirmed a missile attack on one of its vessels on 8 August, attacks on two more on 13 August and a further strike on 14 August. It reported no injuries in any of those three incidents.
A separate strike injures tanker crew
On the same day, a different vessel was hit. India’s Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said on X that four crew members were injured when the Liberia-flagged supertanker MT Fujairah Energy was struck by a projectile while passing through the Arabian Gulf.
Six Indian seafarers were on board, he said. One suffered minor injuries and was taken ashore for further medical checks. The remaining 18 crew members, including the other five Indians, were safe and accounted for. Sonowal said the Indian government was monitoring the situation and was in close contact with the ship’s management company to ensure the seafarers’ security, medical care and wellbeing.
Maritime authorities also reported a separate apparent projectile strike on a tanker near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to the shipping outlet gCaptain.
A rising toll on Gulf shipping
The latest incidents fit a pattern that has worsened in recent weeks. Reuters counted 37 ships attacked in the strait and surrounding waterways in October, the highest monthly total since the war began. It has recorded another 10 attacks so far in November.
Establishing exactly what happened in each case has proved difficult, and accounts sometimes collide. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy has said two tankers caught fire after striking naval mines on a route it described as unauthorised. Reuters, for its part, reported that a tanker was struck northeast of Lima, in Oman. Neither version has been independently verified.
Beaches and coastlines feel the impact
The effects are not limited to ships and their crews. Khor Fakkan municipality temporarily closed Al Luluia beach after oil patches were detected along the shore. Reporting linked the contamination to the tanker VIEIRA, which was described as leaking roughly 65 kilometres off Fujairah. Gulf News has advised residents to avoid beaches under closure and to report suspected oil contamination rather than enter the water.
Why Hormuz matters to the UAE
The Strait of Hormuz separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil consumption passes through it. Attacks on vessels in and around the strait ripple quickly through shipping schedules, insurance costs and energy markets. Oil rebounded on Wednesday after touching two-month lows, as traders weighed hopes of de-escalation against the continuing strikes.
For people living in the Emirates, the most immediate consequences are indirect. They include fuel-linked costs, the reliability of imported goods and the occasional change to travel plans. Gulf News has noted that the latest developments do not amount to a general threat to residents, but that careful planning and close attention to official advisories are sensible. UAE airspace remains open.
What happens next
ADNOC L&S says its assessment is continuing and that updates will follow. Until the company or the authorities say more about the vessel and the nature of the attack, much about Tuesday’s incident remains unclear.
What is plain is that commercial shipping around the UAE’s coast is operating under sustained pressure. Each new strike sharpens the question of how long the disruption can last.
Comments 1