Chinese Supertanker Successfully Navigates Through Strait of Hormuz
A supertanker called Yuan Hua Fu, which belongs to the state-owned Chinese shipping company COSCO, has successfully traversed the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel was transporting approximately 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil when it made this transit on Wednesday.
Classified as a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), this ship can manage a minimum of 2 million barrels, with some ships capable of carrying over 7 million. These vessels, among the largest globally, typically exceed 300 meters in length. Due to their size, they can’t dock at regular quays and instead load and unload through a specialized pipe system extending into deeper waters.
However, such large and relatively slow-moving ships can be easily targeted by terrorists and pirates, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran. This group has been known to obstruct the Strait of Hormuz by attacking civilian vessels. Only two other Chinese supertankers have managed to pass through this strategic waterway since the onset of tensions between the U.S. and Iran on February 28.
According to ship tracking services Kpler and LSEG, the Yuan Hua Fu had been stranded in the Persian Gulf for over two months. It loaded its cargo of Iraqi crude oil at the Basra terminal in early March but remained stuck in the Gulf until now.
Early Wednesday morning, the supertanker began its passage through the Strait of Hormuz, moving past Iran’s Rarak Island on the eastern side.
Reports indicate that the Yuan Hua Fu successfully made it back from the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and is currently anchored off the coast of Oman, close to U.S. naval forces which have been enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports.
Registration information shows that the Yuan Hua Fu is owned by COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation and is under contract to transport Iraqi oil for Unipec, the trading division of Sinopec, a state oil company in China.
It remains unclear if any payments were made to Iran for safe passage. If so, this could create complications for President Trump’s upcoming discussions with Xi Jinping in Beijing. The Trump administration has previously contended that Iran shouldn’t have control over the strait, which must remain accessible for all international vessels, while advocating for strict penalties against nations that pay Iran for passage.
Another Chinese vessel, the Xiang Jiang Kou, also navigated through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
Ship tracking data indicates that both the Yuan Hua Fu and Xiang Jiang Kou signaled “Chinese vessels and crew” via their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders as they moved through the strait.
