JAKARTA - Iran has started allowing ships bound for its ports to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. A number of foreign-flagged ships are also said to have been granted permission to pass. However, the important shipping lane is still tightly controlled by Tehran and the flow of ships has not returned to normal.
Arab News, which was quoted on Sunday, April 5, reported that the Tasnim news agency on Saturday quoted a letter saying that ships bound for Iranian ports, including those in the Gulf of Oman, must coordinate with the relevant authorities and comply with the protocols set for crossing the strait.
Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that in normal conditions is used by about a fifth of the world's oil trade, in response to attacks by the United States and Israel since February 28.
In the midst of the restrictions, a number of ships from Turkey, India, France, and Japan were reported to have safely passed through.
Turkish Minister of Transportation Abdulkadir Uraloglu said two of the 15 ships belonging to Turkish operators who have been waiting since the war broke out have managed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Indian government also stated that the LPG tanker Green Sanvi had safely crossed the strait while carrying 46,650 metric tons of LPG and 25 crew. India said 17 Indian-flagged vessels with 460 Indian sailors were still in the western Arabian Gulf region.
Maritime tracking data shows that French and Japanese ships were also among the few ships that managed to pass. The Maltese-flagged Kribi ship belonging to the French shipping group CMA CGM was recorded as leaving the Gulf through an Iranian-approved route in its territorial waters. Lloyd's List dubbed the route the "Tehran Toll Booth."
In addition, three tankers, including one jointly owned by Japanese company Mitsui O.S.K., crossed Hormuz via an alternative route to the south, near the coast of the Musandam Peninsula, Oman. The Sohar LNG ship became the first Japanese ship to leave the Gulf region since the war began.
Even though there are ships that have managed to pass through, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has dropped sharply. According to Kpler data quoted from Arab News, as of Friday morning, since March 1, only 221 commodity-carrying vessels have crossed the route. In normal conditions, the number of sailings in the same waters can reach around 120 per day, according to Lloyd's List.
Of the ships that passed, 60 percent were from Iran or heading to Iran. Of the 118 voyages of cargo ships, 37 of them left the Gulf carrying crude oil. A total of 30 tankers were from Iran or flying the Iranian flag.
The majority of the ships carrying Iranian oil also did not list the final destination on the transponder. Of the ships that listed a destination, all but one stated for China. In the early days of the war, dozens of ships even broadcast messages such as "Chinese crew" or "Chinese owner", which were allegedly an attempt to avoid Iranian targets.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
