An oil tanker carrying petroleum supplies for India has successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz, according to maritime tracking platforms. The vessel, Nissos Keros, is currently headed towards Visakhapatnam and is expected to arrive on June 3. Data from shipping trackers showed the tanker moving through the Northern Arabian Sea off India’s western coast at around 6 am IST on Friday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker had departed from Sharjah on May 21. Its passage comes amid heightened tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route that has remained under close watch following Iran’s recent measures to regulate maritime movement through the area.
Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported on Thursday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy had permitted 23 commercial vessels, including oil tankers and container ships, to transit through the Strait over the previous 24 hours. According to the report, Iranian military authorities said all vessel movements were carried out after formal coordination with the IRGC Navy.
It was unclear whether the ships had to pay a fee to pass through the Strait.
Iran, which has said it would require payments to cross the Strait, announced earlier this month that it was setting up an agency, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), to regulate maritime traffic in the area.
The United Nations has declared it illegal to levy fees for sailing through international waters.
The US has demanded that Iran restore free navigation through the Strait, which Tehran has mined and attacked ships on it after the US joined Israel in bombing Iran in February.
Free navigation through the Strait is a major issue holding up a deal to end the Iran war.
“The Strait is going to be open to everybody”, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.
Iran’s action has put a chokehold on 20 per cent of the world’s gas and oil that go through it, creating a global energy and economic crisis.
Out of the blue, Trump threatened on Wednesday to blow up Oman, which is across the Strait from Iran, if it made an arrangement with Tehran to collect fees to transit it.
Aukevisser, which keeps a roster of ship information, lists Nissos Keros’s owner as Arethusa Shipping Corporation and the operator as Kyklades Maritime Corporation.
The Hyundai-built ship is 333 meters long and has a capacity of 318,744 tonnes or 338,648 cubic metres, according to it.
According to the International Maritime Organisation’s Secretary-General, Arsenio Dominguez, about 1,500 ships are trapped in the Persian Gulf.
(With inputs from IANS)