A ship from Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has departed the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been blocking.
NHK and other Japanese outlets reported on April 3 that Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier SOHAR LNG transited the Strait of Hormuz that day.
The vessel was the first Japanese ship to exit the strait since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28; it cleared the waterway after 7 a.m.
As of 7 a.m., Japan’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Yasushi Kaneko, said 45 Japanese vessels remained in the inner area of the Strait of Hormuz (the Persian Gulf), unchanged from before.
Officials said there were no issues reported aboard SOHAR LNG or with its crew. Authorities did not disclose how the ship exited the strait or its destination.
On March 17, Japan asked Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to guarantee the safety of ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Three days later, Araghchi said after consultations that he was willing to allow Japanese vessels to transit.
Although the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since the outbreak of hostilities, some Greek ships and vessels connected to countries such as China, India and Turkey have continued to transit the waterway.
Bloomberg reported that French carrier CMA CGM’s container ship Kribi transited the strait on April 2 after departing waters near the United Arab Emirates.
However, 26 South Korean-flagged vessels and 175 South Korean crew members remain stuck in the Persian Gulf.
