Drone Strikes Hit Two LNG Tankers at Egypt's Damietta Port

Two LNG Carriers Hit Simultaneously at Damietta

According to a report by The Maritime Executive, two LNG tankers were struck almost simultaneously at Egypt’s Damietta port on the Mediterranean coast, in what appears to be a significant escalation of the ongoing regional conflict. The strikes occurred at 14:20 GMT, sparking fires on both vessels that local emergency crews managed to extinguish. No injuries were reported.

The vessels involved were the Bermuda-flagged LNG carrier Gaslog Salem (IMO 9638915), whose crew put out a small fire on board, and the Marshall Islands-flagged Energos Winter (IMO 9256614), which had to be moved away from the quay before firefighting teams could bring its blaze under control. Egyptian port responders, arriving quickly by land and by tug, are credited with preventing a far more serious incident that could have engulfed either ship or the surrounding terminal infrastructure.

A Terminal Poised for Renewed Importance

Damietta’s LNG terminal was originally built to handle Egyptian gas exports, but falling export volumes in recent years, driven by rising domestic consumption, had reduced its role. That picture was set to change: just days before the attack, Eni and TotalEnergies reached a Final Investment Decision to develop the Cronos gas field within Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone, with plans to pipe that gas to Damietta and restore the terminal’s export function. The timing places the strikes squarely against a backdrop of renewed strategic and commercial significance for the facility.

Who Is Behind the Attack?

Responsibility has not been confirmed, though the source report outlines three possible sources tied to Iran-aligned groups: Hezbollah, operating at roughly 300 miles; Iranian-backed militia forces in southern Iraq, at around 750 miles; and Houthi forces in Yemen, firing from their usual launch areas at a considerably longer range of about 1,250 miles. The comparatively modest damage caused by the impacts suggests a drone strike with a reduced warhead, consistent with the payload trade-offs needed to achieve extended range — pointing toward the Houthis as the most likely originator, based on the report’s analysis.

Notably, Egypt has no direct standing conflict with any of these groups, which suggests the attack was not retaliatory but rather a deliberate effort by Iran’s regional network to broaden the conflict and pull additional states into it — echoing a pattern already seen in strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure launched from Iraq. Saudi Arabia, for its part, is reportedly working to build a broader coalition of nations affected by Red Sea and regional disruptions, aiming to avoid a narrow bilateral standoff with the Houthis that could strengthen the group’s position in ongoing Oman-mediated talks to end the Yemeni civil war. Egypt, wary of deeper involvement in Yemen given past experience, is expected to be a key member of that coalition.

What This Means for Owners and Operators

This incident pushes the geography of maritime risk in the region further west, beyond the familiar Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb corridor, and into a Mediterranean port handling LNG infrastructure tied to major European-linked gas projects. For owners and charterers with vessels calling at Damietta or nearby Egyptian terminals, this raises the stakes for pre-arrival risk assessments, war-risk insurance review, and close coordination with terminal operators on emergency response readiness. It also underscores the value of thorough condition and cargo surveys before and after port calls in contested waters, since even limited-impact strikes can leave hidden structural or systems damage that only a proper inspection will catch. Terminal operators and LNG carriers alike may now need to treat the eastern Mediterranean with the same heightened vigilance previously reserved for the Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea, reassessing routing, insurance cover, and onboard fire-response capability accordingly.

Reviewed by Ibrahim Halil Ceylan, Marine Surveyor at Apeks Marine.