🛢 Tanker captains are being paid the equivalent of $100,000 a month, plus a $50,000 bonus per trip, to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported, as shipowners push to keep Gulf crude moving despite Iranian attacks striking 2% of all vessels in the third quarter of the year.

Ordinary sailors, who can start at $1,500 a month, earn at least four to six times their usual rate for each transit. Most come from poorer communities in the Philippines, India and Indonesia, as well as Russia, Ukraine and eastern Europe.
Some crew are being pressured rather than paid. Manoj Yadav of the Forward Seamen's Union of India told the FT that owners threaten to replace sailors who refuse, and deduct the cost of sending them home from their wages. "If they won't agree, they may lose their job. If they agree, they may lose their life," he said.

At least 93 ships have been hit and 24 sailors killed since February 28, according to the International Maritime Organization.

🔗 https://www.ft.com/content/0d665e5b-d8c8-4f1e-acf5-bba7193b4e6e?shareType=nongift