Who can pass through the Strait of Hormuz?

(Patria) - A French and a Japanese ship are among the few vessels that have passed through the war-torn Strait of Hormuz, maritime tracking data showed on Friday, AFP reported.

The strait, a vital shipping route for oil and liquefied natural gas, has been practically blocked by Iran since the start of the war. Nevertheless, two ships passed through on Thursday, according to the ship tracking website Marine Traffic.

The vessel Kribi, flying the Maltese flag and belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM, left the Persian Gulf on Thursday afternoon, Marine Traffic data showed.

By early Friday, the ship was off Muscat, Oman, broadcasting the message "owner France" on its transponder system in a field usually used to indicate destination.

The ship's navigation data showed it passed through a route approved by Iran through its waters, which the leading shipping journal Lloyd's List has dubbed the "Tehran toll booth".

In addition, three tankers, including one co-owned by a Japanese company, passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday using an alternative, southern route. They approached the coast of the Omani peninsula of Musandam – for the first time in nearly three weeks, according to Lloyd's List.

Before the war, which began more than a month ago, about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed through the strait.

All three ships signaled they were "OMANI SHIP" in the message broadcast by their transponder as they passed through the strait.

Sohar LNG, which was empty upon transit, is co-owned by the Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. This makes it the first Japanese ship to exit the Persian Gulf since the start of the war, according to a company statement cited by Japanese media.

The vessel New Vision, flying the Hong Kong flag, which passed through the strait on March 1st immediately after the start of the war, is expected on Saturday evening in the French port of Le Havre.

Since the start of the war, very few ships have passed through, as Iran selectively attacks ships and energy facilities in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for attacks by the United States and Israel.

Several commercial ships that have recently passed through the Strait of Hormuz have used the route approved by Iran on the northern side of the waterway.


Only 221 cargo ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since March 1st, some multiple times, according to Kepler data as of Friday morning.

In peacetime, the same waterway has about 120 daily transits, according to Lloyd's List.

Of the ships that passed, 60 percent either came from Iran or were heading there. Other countries whose ships, origin or destination, passed through were: United Arab Emirates, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brazil, and Iraq.

It was not clear from the data how many of them received approval to pass from Tehran. But it showed that, among the 118 transits of ships carrying cargo, 37 left the Persian Gulf carrying crude oil.

Most of these oil tankers, thirty of them, came from Iran or sailed under the Iranian flag. And most of the ships carrying Iranian oil did not state their destination on their transponder. Of those that did, all but one reported heading to China.

In the early days of the war, transponder data showed dozens of ships broadcasting messages such as "Chinese crew" or "Chinese owner" in the field usually used for their destination.

This appears to have been an attempt by the ships to avoid being targeted by Iran.