It was belatedly confirmed that a very large crude carrier (VLCC) operated by a Korean shipping company safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz, where military tensions have been rising. They are said to have completely turned off the ship's tracking device early this month and punched through Iran's maritime blockade.
According to Reuters and shipping outlet Marine Insight on the 12th, three tankers, including Basrah Energy managed by Sinokor Merchant Marine, exited the Strait of Hormuz on the 6th carrying a total of 6 million barrels of Gulf crude. Data from shipping analytics firm Kpler and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) show the ships sailed in so-called "blackout" mode, with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) completely switched off to avoid seizure or attack by Iran.
Basrah Energy, which loaded 2 million barrels at the Zirku crude terminal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), departed on the 1st and passed the strait on the 6th. It then arrived at the Fujairah terminal in the UAE, outside the strait, on the 8th and discharged its cargo. Crude that had been isolated by the shutdown of traffic through the strait, a global energy chokepoint, was extracted head-on without a detour.
The shipping industry expects Sinokor Merchant Marine to have preemptively deployed and held at least six empty tankers in the Persian Gulf for about a month from late January, moving cargo from Gulf oil producers suffering logistics disruptions and likely reaping considerable margins. A VLCC is the world's largest class of tanker, carrying about 2 million barrels on a single voyage.
In addition to Sinokor Merchant Marine's vessel, two other tankers also exited the strait safely on the 10th. They are Agios Panteleimon I and Chiara M, each loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude. Agios Panteleimon I had completed loading on the 17th of last month and failed at least twice in attempts to enter, but succeeded in transiting this time. The ship is scheduled to arrive at the Nghi Son refinery in Vietnam on the 26th. Chiara M, whose destination is unclear, is believed to be San Marino-flagged and is currently understood to be managed by a Shanghai-based Chinese entity.
As ships sailing with their trackers off and routes concealed pass through the strait, some analysts say actual cargo flows within the Strait of Hormuz, thought to be completely sealed, are more active than indicators suggest. Sailing with trackers off makes official route monitoring difficult. A locally dispatched analyst at U.S. research firm Seatrini Research said, "Ships are still passing through the strait, and four to five tankers a day are going through with no AIS records at all," adding, "Actual cargo volumes may be far higher than the data show."