By Michael Jones

June 18 - (The Insurer) - Gard is the lead insurer on the hull cover for oil tanker Front Eagle, which caught fire after a collision with another tanker near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

Gard confirmed to The Insurer that it leads the vessel's hull cover and directed any further questions to Front Eagle's owner or protection and indemnity insurer.

The International Group vessel directory shows that Front Eagle's P&I insurance is registered with Steamship Mutual.

One senior marine broking source said Gard has a 27.5% share of Front Eagle's insurance program. The Insurer could not confirm the insured value of the vessel.

Liberia-flagged Front Eagle was built in 2020, is 336 metres long and has a cubic capacity of 325,324 cubic metres.

The vessel collided with oil tanker Adalynn on Tuesday morning. The collision occurred in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, and left both tankers on fire, two senior marine market sources said.

Front Eagle's owner, Oslo-listed Frontline, said personnel on the vessel were safe and that no pollution had been reported after a fire on its deck. The shipowner said that immediate action was taken to extinguish the fire following the incident.

The Front Eagle was loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil and was en route to Zhoushan in China, according to monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

Electronic interference with commercial ship navigation systems has surged in recent days around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf, which is having an impact on vessels sailing through the region, naval forces said on Monday.

The U.S.-led Combined Maritime Forces' Joint Maritime Information Center said in an advisory this week that it had received reports of electronic interference stemming from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and other areas in the Gulf region.

Iran has not commented on Tuesday's collision or reports of electronic interference.

Steamship Mutual and Frontline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.