Doha has pulled the plug on navigation with the Qatari Ministry of Transport on Saturday, ordering all vessels to halt navigation in its waters, citing a “technical fault in the GPS” that’s disrupted routes.
The move comes amid a regional spike in GPS jamming episodes. Windward reports hundreds of vessels daily have faced interference in the Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz — some with their AIS signals showing phantom positions deep inland.
For tankers and LNG ships calling at Qatar’s export terminals, the impact is especially acute. QatarEnergy has already suspended nighttime navigation in its channels — no transits from 18:00 to 05:00 — flagging safety fears tied to the jamming.
Splash has reported on rising cases of GPS spoofing throughout the 2020s, something that has evolved from a niche cyber nuisance to a real navigational hazard, with hotspots in the Red Sea, Black Sea, Persian Gulf, and the South China Sea.
In July 2024, the help desk at sat comms specialist Marlink typically received one call every two weeks from clients concerned that their GPS was unavailable. By mid-July 2025, it received separate reports from more than 150 vessels in a single day.
Two tankers suffered a fiery collision south of the Strait of Hormuz in June (pictured above) following extensive GPS spoofing, while the 7,000 teu MSC Antonia ran aground off Jeddah in May as a result of GPS spoofing, the ship subsequently appearing on various vessel tracking services hard aground in the desert on another continent (pictured below).
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Mr Sam Chambers