Ship tracking authorities reported on Thursday that two more tankers have successfully traversed the Strait of Hormuz with their transponders turned off. One is heading to India and the other to China.
The tanker bound for India is a very large crude oil carrier (VLCC), named Nissos Keros. It will be chartered by the Swiss trading firm Vitol, flagged to the Marshall Islands.
This vessel is transporting 1.8 million barrels of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is set for India’s Visakhapatnam port, in collaboration with Hindustan Petroleum, a subsidiary of the National Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India.
The other ship is an LNG tanker called Hua Lin Wang, operated by China’s state-owned COSCO Shipping Company. It’s carrying naphtha from Kuwait and is expected to reach China’s Huizhou port in about two weeks.
COSCO President Hayashi Yoshi stated that the company is “coordinating the withdrawal of the vessel” and emphasizes the safety of both the ship and crew as a primary concern. However, he did not disclose who COSCO was coordinating with.
Three additional Chinese ships attempted to set sail on Thursday but turned back toward the Strait of Hormuz; one even revealed its identity as a Chinese vessel. The vessels, like Nisos Keros and Hualin Bay, reportedly crossed the strait with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders switched off.
According to a report by Reuters, a third LNG tanker, Hmm, al-Ashtan, also stopped transmitting tracking data off the UAE’s coast on May 1, but reappeared near Oman on Wednesday, heading towards India with cargo from the Emirates terminal on Das Island.
The UAE’s state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Hmm, al-Ashtan declined to comment on this situation or how the tanker managed to navigate the Strait of Hormuz safely.
Recently, several tankers, including three LNG and one oil tanker, successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz, en route to destinations like Pakistan, China, and India. Notably, owners of these ships have avoided questions regarding whether they paid any ransoms to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for safe passage.
In another development, the Malaysian government has requested Iran to allow seven ships, including the VLCC, to transit through the strait. According to shipping industry sources, the supertanker Eagle Veracruz has already traversed the Strait of Hormuz and is now headed to Quanzhou port in China, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. Treasury announced on Wednesday penalties against Iran’s Persian Gulf Straits Administration (PGSA), a newly established entity by the Revolutionary Guards aimed at collecting “tolls” from international shipping.
The Ministry of Finance indicated that all funds gathered by the PGSA are intended for the IRGC. This organization was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. government back in April 2019.
“Cooperation with this authority may implicate entities in supporting the Revolutionary Guards, which could lead to sanctions,” the Treasury cautioned.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Wednesday that “Iran’s military’s latest attempts to intercept global maritime trade reveal a cash-strapped regime desperate for revenue.”
He added, “Through economic pressure, the United States has tightened its grip on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, preventing Iran from funding its arms programs and nuclear initiatives.”
“Under President Trump, we will persistently pursue restrictions on the complex web of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers involved in Iran’s oil exports,” he assured.
