China-owned vessel secures rare Strait of Hormuz transit as Iran war grinds on
China’s Cosco Shipping Lines has also reopened Middle East bookings, signalling a tentative return while warning instability may still disrupt services
The Chinese-owned Lucky Gas passed through the strait on Tuesday, navigating near Larak Island in Iranian waters before reaching Oman’s port of Sohar on Wednesday morning. The Panama-flagged ship is owned and operated by Shunhang Ship Management, a Hong Kong-registered company, according to data platform VesselsValue.
A source said Lucky Gas was the first Chinese-owned LPG carrier to transit the strait since Tehran proposed a “safe corridor” in mid-March, and only the second to pass through the waterway since the war began.
The first LPG vessel, Danuta I, transited the strait around March 6, according to the source. The Palau-flagged ship, owned by a Chinese company, is currently heading to southeastern China’s Fujian province after passing through the Strait of Malacca near Singapore on Wednesday, according to the source and the shipping tracker MarineTraffic.
Meanwhile, Cosco Shipping Lines, the container arm of China’s maritime giant Cosco Shipping, resumed bookings to Middle Eastern ports on Wednesday, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.