Risk in the Strait of Hormuz drives up pay: captains are offered up to $100,000 and $50,000 for each passage

Captains and crews of tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz are receiving extraordinary financial offers because of the high level of risk they face during the voyage.

Captains of oil tankers passing through this tense area of the Middle East are being offered up to $100,000 a month, as well as a $50,000 bonus for each passage. Shipowners are thus trying to ensure the continuation of transport through one of the world’s most dangerous energy corridors.

According to a report by Financial Times, these high salary packages are being offered to seafarers at a time when Iran has increased its attacks on ships, while oil producers in the Gulf countries aim to keep crude oil exports through the strait uninterrupted.

The increase in wages is only part of the overall rise in the cost of maritime transport along this route. The daily cost for cargoes passing through the Strait of Hormuz has reached around $1.3 million this week, up from just $20,000 to $50,000 a day last year.

Under normal conditions, tanker captains are paid around $15,000 a month, while ordinary sailors earn approximately $1,500. For operations in the southern part of the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Oman, crew members receive twice this amount. Meanwhile, during the current passage through the Strait of Hormuz, ordinary sailors can earn four to six times their regular salary.

Most voyages through the strait involve cargo transport, with specialized tankers making repeated passages. This enables crews to secure monthly incomes that may even exceed a captain’s salary, but at the same time continuously exposes them to possible missile and drone attacks.