Two large container ships linked to China's state-owned Cosco Shipping Corp. attempted to exit the Persian Gulf on Friday through the Strait of Hormuz, before making an abrupt U-turn near Iran and motoring back.
The CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean both changed their signaling to Chinese owner and crew, and traveled northeast from waters off Dubai before turning back near Iran's Larak and Qeshm islands near the narrow opening of the strait, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
The tactic of signaling Chinese ownership has been used before in an effort to ensure safe passage through the waterway, including by a bulk carrier and a fuel tanker, which successfully exited the Gulf. It's the first time Cosco Shipping vessels have attempted to transit out via Hormuz.
The Iran war has effectively closed the crucial waterway, choking off supply of crude, natural gas and oil products from the Gulf to global markets and driving up energy prices. Vessel traffic has slowed to a trickle, with Tehran-linked vessels including liquefied petroleum gas carriers transiting recently.
Iran has tightened its grip over the Strait of Hormuz through a combination of attacks on vessels and verbal threats, forcing owners to leave ships inside the Gulf, or refusing to let ships navigate into the region via the waterway. Some have appeared to leave by a Tehran-approved route, while the nation has also said it plans to start imposing a toll to transit the strait.
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The beneficial owners of the two container ships, which entered the Persian Gulf in late February, are listed as Cosco Shipping Development Co., a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping Corp., according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The two vessels are Hong Kong-flagged, the data shows.
A call to Shanghai Ocean Shipping Co., the ships' manager shown on database Equasis, was directed to Cosco Shipping Lines Co. A person who answered the phone at Cosco Shipping Lines didn't respond to a request for comment. The company didn't immediately respond to an email sent to its Shanghai office.
CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean can carry about 19,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers, and were among the world's largest container ships at the time of construction around a decade ago. Aside from the container ships, Cosco also has at least six crude tankers stuck inside the Gulf since the war began, according to the ship-tracking data.
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