(Bloomberg) — Three tankers — the first to attempt transit of the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. announced the blockade — have successfully cleared the waterway. After boating near the coast of Iran, the three have now surfaced in open water.
Meanwhile, the embargo appears to be discouraging others, with at least two ships abandoning their planned voyages.
Among the successful transits, the New Future, which has no apparent links to Iran, and the US-sanctioned Aurora began moving northeast through United Arab Emirates waters on Monday morning, ship tracking data shows. The medium-range tankers appear to have taken a route just south of Iran’s Larak Island, which Tehran says has been followed by ships attempting eastern transits in recent days.
New Future has navigated a bend in the strait and is now off the coast of Sohar port in Oman. Aurora is near the exit of the waterway into the Gulf of Oman.
At the same time, a Vietnam-flagged and owned liquefied petroleum gas carrier entered the strait in the opposite direction to enter the Persian Gulf. The NV Sunshine began sailing north through Sohar waters in the Gulf of Oman late on Sunday and is now inside the Gulf, indicating its route to Sharjah in the UAE.
The transits came hours before the US imposed a blockade on areas around the Strait of Hormuz, after talks between Tehran and Washington broke down over the weekend. The sanctions – which apply to all ships entering or departing from Iranian ports or coastal areas and kick in at 10 a.m. New York time on Monday – follow the Islamic Republic’s tight grip on the vital waterway since the start of the war, which has plunged maritime traffic.
Pressure from an impending U.S. naval blockade appeared to hamper commercial shipping later Monday. The U.S.-sanctioned oil production tanker Rich Stari appeared to turn back during its outward transit near Iran’s Kesham Island, while the China-owned bulk carrier Guan Yuan Fu Jing made an abrupt U-turn on its inbound route in the opposite direction of the waterway.
Ship transit has been closely watched as the US and Iran compete for control of the chokepoint, through which a fifth of the world’s oil used to flow. In recent weeks, Tehran has targeted or attacked ships with links to Western countries or ownership. Trump’s latest move is aimed at challenging the Islamic Republic’s control of the strait and depriving it of energy revenue.
The new Future is carrying more than 330,000 barrels of gas oil that was loaded at the UAE port of Hamriyah in early April. The ship entered the bay at the end of February shortly before the outbreak of war.
