Oil Tankers Go Dark in Middle East Amid Heightened Shipping Risks
Oil tankers are increasingly disabling their transponders in the Middle East, a practice known as 'dark mode', according to ship-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg. This trend, initially observed in the Strait of Hormuz, has now extended to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The duration of these stealthy movements has grown from a few hours to a week or more, reflecting heightened shipping risks in the region. Tanker-tracking services could not confirm whether vessels still carried their original crude cargo or had transferred it to another ship before returning to the Persian Gulf for a new load.
A notable example is the supertanker Romania Prosperity, which vanished from radar off Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman and reappeared nearby ten days later. Saudi ships transporting oil through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have also adopted dark mode to avoid revealing potential targets to the Houthis.