Shipowners will not resume transit through the Strait of Hormuz for weeks until they are confident the US-Iran deal is “material,” the chief executive of Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday.
The war that began on 28 February with US-Israeli strikes largely halted shipping through the strait, a transit route for around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply as well as products such as aluminium and urea. Mitsui O.S.K., one of Japan’s three largest shipping firms, operates a fleet of more than 900 vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers and ferries.
“What will have to come in place is not just a simple agreement between the relevant countries, but it has to be material and translated into the real situations in the Strait of Hormuz, so that shipping lines can make themselves comfortable to go through,” chief executive Jotaro Tamura told the FT, speaking before Trump announced the deal to end the war.
“Given the experiences in the last couple of months, I think it’s reasonable to assume that it may take at least a couple of weeks or if not a month,” Tamura said. The FT reported that the agreement being finalised between Washington and Tehran had not changed his view. Mitsui O.S.K. did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that ships loaded with oil were already moving out of the strait, “going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine.”
(Reuters)
Read more: