Hormuz Exodus Begins: Ships Finally Sailing As UN-Led Evacuation Corridor Opens

Several vessels have already navigated the Strait of Hormuz utilizing a fresh evacuation framework established by the United Nations’ shipping agency, an official confirmed on Wednesday. More via newswires:

US Energy Secretary Wright says roughly 72 ships have exited Strait of Hormuz in last 24 hours.

“Ships have already begun to pass under the plan,” stated a spokesperson for the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO), though they opted not to disclose specific details regarding the transiting vessels.

According to the latest LSEG ship-tracking data Wednesday, at least two dry bulk carriers and one cargo vessel successfully crossed the strait under the new program within a 12-hour window.

An additional analysis of ship movements by Reuters, utilizing data from LSEG and MarineTraffic, indicated that at least 35 other commercial vessels – primarily dry bulk, cargo, and container ships – are gearing up to make the passage.

On Tuesday, the IMO noted that the framework is designed to clear the way for hundreds of vessels and roughly 11,000 seafarers who have been stranded in the Gulf to finally sail through Hormuz.

“This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal States in the region, the United States and the maritime industry,” IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez stated Tuesday.

“We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” he described

Notably, by and large captains and crew members have all along not abandoned their tens of millions or hundreds of millions in precious commodities/cargo – especially after already enduring the blockade for this long.

Meanwhile…

Oil tanker rates have soared since the U.S. and Iran announced the memorandum of understanding as oil importers scramble to charter vessels to pick up Persian Gulf cargoes in the hope these can transit the tentatively reopening Strait of Hormuz. 

One tanker has been provisionally booked to ship crude from the Persian Gulf to India at a rate that’s nine times the benchmark for the route, shipbrokers told Bloomberg on Wednesday.  

South Korea’s Sinokor shipping group, which before the war went on a buying and chartering spree to control about 120 very large crude carriers (VLCCs), will provide one of these supertankers for the shipment of a cargo of up to 2 million barrels from the Persian Gulf to India. The rate at which the tanker has been provisionally booked is 897% of the MEG-India benchmark route, or nine times higher than the normal freight cost, shipbrokers told Bloomberg.

The IMO ​additionally said in a note on the scheme issued Wednesday, “Vessels should wait for instructions before proceeding,”

“Crowding the waiting area will only result in the need to pause further notifications for the safety of navigation,“ it said.