Tankers improvise to avoid Gulf tensions

Tankers are crossing sea-lanes and hugging the coasts to avoid high-risk areas in the Strait of Hormuz

About 20pc of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, and tanker owners are trying ingenious—or reckless, depending on your point of view—ways of navigating through it. Intertanko, representing the world's independent tanker operators, has issued rigorous advisory guidelines to cope with possible attacks. Operators are advised to post additional lookouts with night-vision binoculars, backed by searchlights, to watch for attackers after a string of mine and missile strikes in recent months. The guide, issued in July, advises tankers in the Strait of Hormuz to consider transiting at full speed, advice given this week by Norway to its flag-carr