A liquefied natural gas tanker named Fuwairit exited the Strait of Hormuz on May 25, heading to Pakistan, marking one of the few recent shipments through the key Gulf chokepoint [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. The Fuwairit is owned by Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), sails under the Bahamas flag, and loaded LNG at Qatar’s Ras Laffan port around March 28 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The very large crude carrier Eagle Verona also exited the Persian Gulf on May 23 after being stranded for nearly three months. The Singaporean-flagged tanker, chartered by Unipec—the trading arm of China’s Sinopec—and owned by Malaysian shipper MISC, is carrying about two million barrels of Basrah crude oil from Iraq to China [1, 2, 7, 4, 6]. The Eagle Verona is expected to arrive at Ningbo port in China by June 12 to discharge its cargo [1, 2, 7, 4, 6].
Another LNG tanker, Al Rayyan, owned by QatarEnergy and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, left the Strait around May 22 carrying LNG loaded at Ras Laffan and is heading to China, with arrival expected June 27 [3, 4, 5, 6].
Overall shipping through the Strait remains sharply reduced since the US-Israeli coalition launched a conflict against Iran on February 28, severely curtailing traffic through the vital waterway that normally handles 125 to 140 daily ship passages, transporting about a fifth of global oil and LNG supplies [1, 2, 7, 4, 6]. Only a handful of supertankers have managed to pass in May using transit routes Iran mandated [1, 2, 4, 6]. Three VLCCs carried about six million barrels of crude oil to China and South Korea in the week ending May 24 [1, 4, 6].
Ships making recent transits have often switched off transponders to avoid detection amid security threats [3, 5]. About 20,000 seafarers remain stranded on hundreds of vessels in the Gulf [1].
US and Iranian officials are engaged in peace talks aimed at ending the conflict and reopening the Strait. Unnamed senior US officials said "the two sides are closing in on an agreement that would reopen the waterway," while Iran's Fars agency called such reports "far from reality". Former President Donald Trump said a peace deal with Iran has been "largely negotiated" [7].
