Insurance rates for tankers transiting through the world’s most important oil choke point have skyrocketed in recent weeks, CNBC quoted the CEO of a US-listed shipping company as saying.

“As a shipping company and part of the global shipping industry, we are taking the threat to our crew and ships very seriously,” Anthony Gurnee, CEO of Ardmore Shipping, said on Tuesday.

Ardmore Shipping is a US-listed company based in Ireland, with a business of owning and operating a fleet of tankers that move refined oil products.

“At the moment, it is business as usual (but) insurance to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important waterway which separates Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, has actually increased 10-fold in the last two months as a consequence of the attacks,” Gurnee said.

Source: Mehr News Agency