Tanker Operators Offer Captains $100,000 Monthly to Transit Dangerous Strait of Hormuz

Oil tanker operators are offering ship captains up to $100,000 per month and $50,000 per-trip bonuses to maintain crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz amid mounting Iranian attacks. Crew members are receiving four to six times their standard $1,500 monthly wages as labor shortages threaten Persian Gulf flows. Freight rates have surged to a record $1.3 million per day, while war-risk insurance reaches up to $20 million per supertanker voyage. Following 93 commercial vessel strikes and 24 sailor deaths, transit volumes remain about one-third below pre-conflict levels despite recent acceleration in Gulf export pace.