Two China-Linked Container Ships From Cosco Make Hormuz Exit

A container ship at the Fairview Container Terminal in the Port of Prince Rupert in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. Photo by James MacDonald /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Two container ships linked to China’s state-owned Cosco Shipping Corp. exited the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, the first such vessels operated by a major Beijing-backed company to navigate the waterway since the Middle East war broke out.

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The CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean cleared the strait after beginning their journey eastward from within the Persian Gulf on Monday morning, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. The ships started their almost 12-hour-long journeys from waters off Dubai. They took a route near Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands at the narrow opening of the strait, before sailing into waters of the Gulf of Oman.

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The ships don’t appear to be carrying any cargo aside from empty container boxes, according to draft readings of how low they sit in the water. They are listed as part of Cosco Shipping Lines Co.’s fleet, which is a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping Corp.

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The global shipping market has been keenly watching the journeys of these two Cosco ships for signs of how China plans to extract its vessels from the gulf, as it seeks to stem a deepening energy crisis and a plunge in China-to-Middle East trade. 

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In retaliation for US-Israeli strikes, Iran has choked off the strait, and only some Tehran-approved vessels including liquefied petroleum gas carriers had transited recently. Tehran said that it would only approve ships that are friendly to Iran, at the same time imposing a toll fee of as much as $2 million dollars.

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Cosco Shipping Lines Co. didn’t immediately respond to an email sent to its Shanghai office.

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Both ships were signaling Chinese ownership and crew onboard as they made their second attempt at the transit on Monday, in an apparent effort to ensure safe passage. The vessels used the same tactics on Friday, before they U-turned near Iran.

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The two vessels, each with the capacity to transport about 19,000 TEUs, were seen taking the same route on Monday. They have been stuck in the Persian Gulf for more than a month since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran.

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Read Earlier Story: Two Chinese Container Ships Attempt Hormuz Exit Before U-Turning

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Cosco Shipping is one of the world’s largest shipowners, with massive containership and tanker fleets operated by its subsidies. Aside from the container ships, Cosco also has at least six crude tankers stuck inside the Gulf since the war began, according to ship-tracking data.

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In an early sign of a resumption of Hormuz transits, Cosco Shipping Lines last week informed customers that it would be recommencing bookings for general cargo containers from east Asia to the Middle East, including some located in the gulf. The company owns and operates 453 container ships that have a total capacity of about 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent containers, or TEUs, as at end January.

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—With assistance from Alex Longley and John Deane.

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