By Costas Paris

A container ship owned by Germany's Hapag-Lloyd was hit near the Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates, causing a fire but no injuries.

"The Source Blessing ship was hit by some kind of fragments. There was a small fire but it was extinguished and the crew is fine," Hapag-Loyd director of communications Nils Haupt told The Wall Street Journal. "It's now very difficult to sail in the Persian Gulf."

The Source Blessing, chartered to Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk, is the seventh ship to be hit in the region in the past day, a sharp escalation in attacks. At least 19 commercial ships have been hit or damaged in the Persian Gulf since hostilities broke out at the end of February, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations.

Jebel Ali is the biggest transshipment port in the Middle East for container ships moving everything from cars and heavy equipment to electronics and home goods.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 12, 2026 08:07 ET (12:07 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.