SINGAPORE – A liquefied natural gas tanker was exiting the Strait of Hormuz and heading to Pakistan on May 25 while a supertanker with Iraqi crude for China left the Middle East Gulf on May 23 after being stranded for nearly three months, shipping data showed.
The US-Israeli war on Iran which began on Feb 28 has severely curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and LNG normally flows.
The vessels are among a handful of supertankers exiting the Gulf this month via a transit route that Iran has ordered ships to use. Last week, three Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) made their way to China and South Korea with 6 million barrels of crude.
LNG tanker Fuwairit is crossing the Strait of Hormuz on May 25 and is expected to discharge its cargo at Pakistan on May 26, shipping data on LSEG and Kpler showed. The vessel, sailing under the Bahamas flag, loaded LNG at Qatar’s Ras Laffan port around March 28.
Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), which owns the Fuwairit, could not be immediately reached for comment outside office hours.
Separately, the VLCC Eagle Verona, which exited the strait on May 23, is expected to reach Ningbo port in eastern China on June 12 to discharge its cargo, shipping data on LSEG and Kpler showed.
The Singaporean-flagged vessel chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Asia’s largest refiner Sinopec, loaded nearly two million barrels of Basrah crude around Feb 26, according to the data.
Sinopec and Malaysian state shipper MISC, which owns the vessel, could not be immediately reached for comment outside office hours.
Before the war began, shipping traffic through the strait averaged 125 to 140 daily passages. Some 20,000 seafarers remain stranded inside the Gulf on board hundreds of ships. REUTERS