Date issued: 1st October 2026
This document has been approved for distribution by Ambrey Analytics Ltd.
“With 371 SAR merchant engagements south of Crete by the end of September, being called on is no longer a remote possibility for ships on that route. That makes SAR preparedness, crew briefing, SOLAS procedures, reception and search arrangements, and early contact with the coordinating rescue centre a routine voyage-planning item rather than an exceptional one.”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Between January 2024 and 28 September 2026, merchant ships diverted to assist migrant boats 1,352 times across the four theatres Ambrey monitors.
- They spent 8,807 hours doing so, about 367 ship-days, and sailed 51,860 additional nautical miles (Nm), roughly 2.4 times round the world. Seven in ten of those engagements, and four-fifths of the extra distance, were south of Crete.
- Merchant involvement in migrant rescues off western Libya has fallen sharply. Diversions were down 67% year on year in January–September 2026, and extra distance sailed fell 76%. The likely factors include more interceptions by Libyan authorities, a larger Frontex presence and the continued work of NGO rescue ships in the central Mediterranean.
- Merchant involvement also fell in every other theatre except the Crete corridor. Even so, growth south of Crete meant the overall figure still rose: across all four theatres, extra distance sailed was up 10% on the same period of 2025.
SITUATION
The Crete corridor is the story. By 28 September, merchant ships had sailed 15,878 additional Nm south of Crete in 2026, already more than in all of 2025 (14,927 Nm). Public data point the same way: Libya–Crete arrivals rose from 4,847 in 2024 to 19,857 in 2025…