DUBAI (Dispatches) -- A large number of crew members are getting off commercial vessels rather than risk crossing the Strait of Hormuz, where ongoing U.S.-Israeli military aggression against Iran has turned the strategic waterway into a deadly war zone. 
Despite massive bonuses being offered by shipping firms to incentivize crews to make the voyage, many seafarers are refusing the additional pay rather than risk their lives.
International shipping firms are offering crews large bonuses to transit the Strait of Hormuz despite the risks involved, Bloomberg reported. 
Sinokor Group, the world’s largest owner of supertankers, offered its crews six months of extra salary to make a return voyage collecting oil from Saudi Arabia or Iraq and unloading it in the Gulf of Oman, a trip the company said would take around a month, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.
Captain Pradeep Chawla, chairman of GlobalMET, a seafarer training organization that partners with the International Maritime Organization, confirmed that crews are “being offered huge bonuses by some companies,” without referring to the Sinokor offer directly. 
He added that “We have heard stories of a large number of crew members getting off, but they are able to find people who are willing to go.”
Since the start of the U.S. war on Iran, at least 59 commercial ships have come under attack in and around the Persian Gulf, with 17 seafarers killed, according to the UN’s shipping agency.
The cost of shipping has surged since attacks on commercial vessels drove traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to near collapse. The heightened risk has driven up both insurance premiums and crew bonuses, yet many seafarers are still refusing the additional pay rather than risk the crossing.
The latest shipping data by Kpler shows that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily suppressed, with only 30 verified crossings logged between 17 and 19 July. 
Reuters reported last week that shipping firms are steering clear of U.S.-controlled shipping corridors through the Strait of Hormuz along Oman’s coast, fearing Iranian strikes — a direct consequence of the U.S.-Israeli terrorist campaign against the Islamic Republic.
One shipping source said the U.S. appears to have no control over the situation, while Verisk Maplecroft analyst Torbjorn Solvedt warned that Iran’s continued ability to hit ships on the Omani route makes U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s plan to keep traffic moving unlikely to succeed. 
In early July, three Thai sailors sued their former employer, Precious Shipping, along with two affiliates and the vessel’s captain, accusing them of endangering their lives and dismissing them before their nine-month contracts ended, after a projectile struck their cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz in March, killing three crew members.