Japanese shipping companies that own vessels stuck near the Strait of Hormuz are in no rush to test the veracity of news that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to end their hostilities, with Iran reopening the strait. They will wait until the formalization of the agreement, set to be signed on Friday, Reuters reported.
Several hundred tankers, LNG carriers, and cargo ships have been stuck around the chokepoint since the start of March, when Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz in response to the missile strikes launched by the United States and Israel during ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Some ships have been allowed to pass since then, with the flow initially a trickle but, according to ship-tracking firms, strengthening in recent weeks. On the other hand, a U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports disrupted specifically Iranian export outflows, further complicating the energy supply picture globally.
Energy-poor Japan is among the countries most dependent on imports of energy and other commodities from the Middle East, and as such is among those most interested in the resumption of normal vessel traffic. However, Japanese shippers would rather “wait a little longer for more concrete information” than try to get their ships out of Hormuz as soon as possible, according to the Reuters report.
A Japanese tanker was the first to be allowed to traverse the Strait of Hormuz since the start of hostilities and the chokepoint’s closure. It was among a handful of vessels that made it through the strait without having to turn off their transponders. This has become a more popular practice in recent weeks, resulting in stronger flows out of the Persian Gulf and a revision in estimates of lost supply in crude oil, how claimed to be significantly lower than calculated earlier.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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