Greek tanker strike report meets a tracking gap

Greek news sites reported late on 5 October that the Greek-flagged Maran Gas Mystras, a tanker that carries liquefied natural gas (LNG), was hit by a projectile while leaving the Strait of Hormuz (Protothema). The British warnings about strikes in the strait that day name no ship. The last position one public tracking site shows for Mystras puts it near Singapore, on the far side of the Indian Ocean (TankerMap).

The Greek accounts describe a projectile of unknown type and origin striking near the waterline. Smoke followed, and the ship kept sailing under its own power (Mononews). The outlets call their information preliminary and quote no witness.

None of the accounts quote the operator, Maran Gas Maritime, or Greece's maritime ministry. Several sites repeating the story shows that it is circulating. It does not mean separate sources confirmed it.

What the official warnings say

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) is the British service that collects incident reports from ships and alerts other mariners. It has issued a run of Hormuz warnings since the first strike we covered (To Brief), and they concern unnamed tankers.

Warning 156-26 describes a strike at 16:37 UTC on 5 October, followed by an engine-room fire (UKMTO). It names no vessel and does not say the ship was a gas carrier.

That limit cuts both ways. The reassuring lines in these notices, such as crews safe and no pollution, belong to unidentified ships and cannot be attached to Mystras. UKMTO can warn mariners without naming anyone. Only the operator can confirm where Mystras is and what state it is in.

A position that doesn't fit

TankerMap last displayed Mystras stationary near the Singapore Strait on 30 September (TankerMap). The Greek reports and the UKMTO notice both place the Hormuz incident five days later, on 5 October (UKMTO).

The straight line between those two points is about 3,132 nautical miles, and covering it between 30 September and the 5 October strike would mean averaging roughly 24.4 knots without stopping (TankerMap). That figure is a floor, not an estimate. Real sea routes are longer than a straight line, and a loaded gas tanker would need to sprint the whole way.

Public tracking positions can be stale or wrong. A ship that stops broadcasting, or sails out of a site's receiver coverage, leaves an old dot on the map. Separately, a UKMTO-linked advisory warns of signal interference and false tracks around the Gulf (UKMTO/JMIC). That could distort positions near Hormuz, though it does not explain a Singapore reading. The gap does not disprove the Greek reports, but none of them addresses it.

Europe's gas losses predate this report

The Greek accounts name no cargo, buyer or destination, so nothing ties Mystras to European supply. Europe's exposure is real, and it comes from elsewhere.

On 28 September, Italy's Edison said QatarEnergy had extended force majeure until early December (Edison). Force majeure is a supplier's formal notice that events beyond its control prevent it from delivering what a contract promises. Qatar has no pipeline route around the strait, unlike some Saudi and Emirati oil, so its gas either sails through Hormuz or stays home (EIA).

For Edison, the extension means 35 cargoes that will not reach the Adriatic LNG terminal off Italy's coast (Edison). Some gas still gets out. Reuters, citing S&P Global, counted 19 LNG cargoes through Hormuz in September, 13 of them Qatari (Reuters).

The public record does not yet establish that Mystras was struck, and this report adds no verified loss to Europe's gas supply. Italy's shortfall was declared before 5 October and stands whatever happened to this ship. Maran Gas Maritime could settle the question with a dated position and a statement on the ship's condition. None of the coverage cited here contains either.