A French ship and another Japanese-owned ship are among several ships that have passed through the war-torn Strait of Hormuz, maritime tracking data showed on Friday.
The passage, a vital sea route for oil and liquefied natural gas, has been virtually blocked by Iran since the start of the war.
But both ships passed on Thursday, according to the website of the ship-tracking company Marine Traffic.
The Maltese-flagged ship belonging to French shipping group CMA CGM crossed the waterway to leave the Gulf on Thursday afternoon, Marine Traffic data showed.
Early Friday, it was off Muscat, Oman, still broadcasting the message “France owned” on its ground transponder system normally used to give the destination.
The ship’s navigation records showed it had passed through an Iranian-approved route through its waters, dubbed the “Tehran Toll Booth” by leading shipping magazine Lloyd’s List.
South Street
In addition, three tankers – including one jointly owned by a Japanese company – crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday by taking an alternative, southern route.
They embraced off the coast of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula – the first in nearly three weeks according to Lloyd’s List.
Before the war, which began more than a month ago, about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed through the strait.
All three vessels signaled that they were an “OMANI vessel” in the message transmitted by their transponder as they passed through the strait.
Sohar LNG, which was empty during the crossing, is co-owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK
This makes it the first Japanese ship to leave the Gulf since the start of the war, according to a company statement cited by Japanese media.
The Hong-Kong-flagged New Vision, which crossed the strait on March 1 shortly after the start of the war, is due in the French port of Le Havre on Saturday evening.
However, since the beginning of the conflict, it has fallen into a tailspin as Iran selectively attacks shipping and energy facilities across the Gulf in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.
Some merchant ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz have recently passed through the Iranian-approved route north of the waterway.
Up to a flow
Just 221 cargo ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since March 1, some more than once, according to Kpler data as of Friday morning.
In peacetime, the same waterway handles about 120 daily transits, according to Lloyd’s List.
Of the ships that made the crossing, 60% either came from Iran or were going there.
The other countries whose ships – of origin or destination – made the crossing were, in descending order: United Arab Emirates, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brazil and Iraq.
It was not clear from the records how many had been cleared to make the crossing from Tehran.
But it showed that, among 118 crossings by ships carrying cargo, 37 had left the Gulf carrying crude oil.
Most of those oil tankers – 30 of them – came from Iran or sailed under the Iranian flag. And most ships carrying Iranian oil did not specify their destination on their transponder.
Of those who did, all but one reported going to China.
In the early days of the war, transponder data showed dozens of ships broadcasting messages such as “Chinese crew” or “Chinese owner” on the ground that were commonly used for their destination.
This appeared to be an attempt by the ships to avoid targeting Iran.
(sma)
