JAKARTA - A number of liquefied natural gas or LNG tanker ships have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in recent days. This movement occurs when the region is still overshadowed by new tensions in the Middle East.
Kyodo News, quoted on Friday, July 10, reported that ship tracking data showed at least five empty LNG tankers had entered the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, the Japanese government said 22 Japanese-related ships had left the Gulf area since Tuesday.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's main routes for shipping oil and LNG. The narrow waters continue to be monitored by shipping companies and governments after Iran attacked commercial vessels this week, followed by a US retaliatory attack on Iran.
The tension had reduced ship traffic in the area. However, data from Kpler and LSEG showed that the movement of LNG vessels began to be seen again.
The five LNG tankers that are recorded as entering the strait include the GasLog Shanghai, which is controlled by the Greek shipping company GasLog. The other four ships are related to QatarEnergy, namely Al Samriya, Al Dafna, Al Gattara, and Al Rayyan.
Tracking data shows that the GasLog Shanghai and Al Rayyan likely entered the Strait of Hormuz at night. Previously, both ships were seen outside the waters on July 9.
Three other QatarEnergy vessels were last seen outside the Strait of Hormuz, off the west coast of India, a few weeks ago. Al Samriya and Al Gattara were last monitored around June 18-19, while Al Dafna on June 29.
QatarEnergy and GasLog did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of business hours.
On the other hand, Japan has accelerated the departure of ships related to the country from the Gulf region. Japanese Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko said 22 Japanese-related ships, including six large crude oil tankers, crossed the Strait of Hormuz to leave the region on July 7-9.
With this movement, only four Japanese-related ships are still in the Gulf area.
When asked how the safety of the ships was guaranteed, officials from the overseas shipping division of the Japanese Ministry of Transportation declined to comment. The reason is that the information concerns security.
The number of Japanese-related ships in the Gulf region has dropped sharply since the beginning of the conflict. According to a spokesperson for the Japanese Ship Owners Association, there were previously 45 ships with about 1,100 crew in the region.
Now, the number has shrunk to four ships with about 100 crew.
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