Mitsui Container Ship in Persian Gulf Confirmed Damaged But Still Operational; Cause Remains Unknown

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:33 JST, March 12, 2026

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. has confirmed that one of its container ships was damaged while anchored in the Persian Gulf, but no crew members were injured and the vessel remains operational.

According to Mitsui, a hole was found in the stern of the Japanese-flagged ONE Majesty container ship. The cause of the damage is unclear, and Mitsui is investigating whether it is connected to the ongoing military conflict in the region.

According to the shipping company, the sound of an impact was heard on early Wednesday local time. Water was not entering the vessel and no fire had broken out. Mitsui did not reveal the size of the hole or other details.

Mitsui explained that the ship was in the Persian Gulf and about 100 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed since the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran on Feb. 28. Mitsui said it did not know whether the ship had been attacked.

The damaged ship is operated by Ocean Network Express Pte., a container shipping business established by Mitsui, NYK Line and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, 45 ships with connections to Japan, including the ONE Majesty, were in the Persian Gulf as of Wednesday. A total of 24 Japanese crew members were reportedly on five of these ships.

Mitsui also confirmed Wednesday that a vessel damaged by an object which seemingly fell from the sky on March 4 (Japan time) while anchored in the Gulf of Oman, east of the Strait of Hormuz, was one of its crude oil tankers. The government had announced that the vessel was linked to Japan, but the ship’s operating company had not previously been revealed. “We’ll continue to make safety our top priority and focus on gathering information to accurately assess the situation,” a Mitsui representative said.

In a related development, Thai authorities revealed that a Thai company’s cargo ship had been attacked near the strait Wednesday morning, causing an explosion and a fire in the engine room. Twenty of 23 crew members evacuated by boat and were rescued by Oman’s navy. The whereabouts of the three other crew members was unknown.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s elite military organization, announced Wednesday that the Thai vessel had been attacked because it had ignored warnings.

Also that day, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, an entity with ties to the Royal Navy, announced that multiple vessels near the strait had reported sustaining damage after being hit by unknown projectiles.