Shipping associations warn that risks to shipping in the strait of Hormuz remain elevated despite the US' announcement that it is restoring commercial traffic through the waterway via "Project Freedom".
The UK's Joint Maritime Information Center maintained that the maritime security threat level in the strait of Hormuz is critical due to ongoing regional military operations. It advised vessels choosing to transit the strait of Hormuz to route via Omani territorial waters, noting that transit via or close to the Iranian established Traffic Separation Scheme should be considered extremely hazardous due to the potential presence of mines. It is unclear if this routing is the US' recommended routing under the project.
Shipping association BIMCO, whose membership represents over 60pc of the global fleet, said that no formalized details or guidance to the shipping industry regarding Project Freedom have been announced at this point.
"Without consent from Iran to let commercial ships transit safely through the strait of Hormuz, it is currently not clear whether the Iranian threat to ships can be degraded or suppressed," BIMCO chief safety and security officer Jakob Larsen said.
Despite the lack of clarity, Project Freedom is underway and the US is reaching out to individual vessels to prod them into crossing the strait, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).
"Over the last 12 hours, we've reached out to dozens of ships and shipping companies to encourage traffic flow through the strait of Hormuz, consistent with the President's intent to help guide ships safely through the narrow trade corridor," CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper told journalists on a call on Monday. "The United States has assumed the risk for the international community to open the strait."
Transits through the strait limited
Only one vessel transited the strait of Hormuz on 4 May, the Nooh Gas, which was sailing outbound, Vortexa data show. The vessel is a 1993-built US-sanctioned LPG tanker flying a false Botswana flag, according to US Treasury and International Maritime Organization data.
CENTCOM claims it has assisted two US-flagged merchant ships transit the strait of Hormuz, which was not corroborated by Vortexa's Hormuz transit data.
The start of Project Freedom has reignited fighting in the Mideast Gulf, with Iran launching attacks on the UAE port of Fujairah and ships off the UAE coastline on Monday. US president Donald Trump derided Iran's actions in response to Project Freedom as "shots at unrelated Nations with respect to Ship Movement." Meanwhile, vessel operators have increasingly shifted Pacific basin tonnage toward the Atlantic, suggesting hopes of a near-term solution to cut off Mideast Gulf commodity flows may be fading. The downward pressure on global freight rates from an influx of supply into places like the US Gulf coast has counteracted the initial supply shock from the strait of Hormuz closure that pushed most rates to all-time highs in early March. This has pushed some Atlantic basin-loading freight rates back to pre-war levels in May.
