Seizure of the MSC Aries (2024)
The helicopter boarding of a container ship by Iran's Revolutionary Guards near the Strait of Hormuz, in retaliation for a strike attributed to Israel, with its 25 seafarers on board.
The MSC Aries, a Portuguese-flagged container ship chartered by MSC, belonged to a company linked to an Israeli businessman. The Revolutionary Guards boarded it a few days after the strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus, citing a breach of maritime law. The case shows how insurance handles a state seizure: capture, seizure and detainment fall under war risk cover, not the ordinary hull policy, and a total loss can be claimed only after a period of continuous detention set by the policy, often six or twelve months. It also shows that the risk does not follow the flag: it follows the chain of beneficial ownership and how a hostile state reads it politically. Hence the underwriters' questionnaires on ownership ties, which weigh as much as the route in assessing a Hormuz transit.
On April 13, 2024, Revolutionary Guards who rappelled from a helicopter took control of the MSC Aries near the Strait of Hormuz with its 25 crew members; an Indian deck cadet was freed on April 18, and Iran announced the release of the whole crew on May 3, 2024 but kept the ship, which it said was under "judicial detention."
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