IBF/JNG extends Warlike Operations Area designation through end-2026

The International Bargaining Forum (IBF) and the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) have agreed to extend the Warlike Operations Area (WOA) designation through 31 December 2026. The decision was confirmed in a Q2 2026 IBF Warlike Operations Area & High Risk Area Committee circular and onward by ITF and the major OPCs to their affiliated owners and managers.

The extension keeps in place the entitlements that have applied since the area was redesignated in late 2024:

• A 100% basic-wage bonus for the duration of a vessel's presence in the listed area.
• Double compensation in the event of death or disability while in the area.
• The right of any seafarer to decline to proceed into the area, with repatriation at the owner's cost and no penalty to the seafarer's record.

The geographic scope continues to cover the southern Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb approaches, the Gulf of Aden out to the listed easting, and — under the February 2026 revision — a defined corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and the upper Persian Gulf. Owners running standard IBF or TCC agreements should treat the WOA rider as a live contractual obligation, not an optional add-on.

Practical implications for the crewing chain: any officer or rating signing on to a vessel with a scheduled transit through the listed corridors is entitled to the bonus from the moment the vessel enters the area, and the right to decline survives the signing of articles. Owners and managers continue to carry the operational risk of a late refusal — which is why pre-signed riders, documented K&R cover and a transit-log extract are now standard items in charterer vetting packs.

What it means for owners

• Budget the 100% basic-wage bonus into voyage estimates through end-2026 — this is not going away.
• Insist that your crewing supplier ships the WOA rider signed and the K&R/BMP5 documentation attached to the CV before sign-on, not at the gangway.