ANOTHER Dynacom tanker has made an outbound voyage from the Strait of Hormuz, according to ship-tracking data corroborated by port agents.

Malta-flagged suezmax Marathi (IMO: 9772357) arrived in the Gulf of Kutch, India on Thursday (March 26) indicating its destination as Sikka, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data showed. The vessel’s arrival to Sikka port was confirmed by the Lloyd’s Agent Network, part of Lloyd’s List Intelligence. 

The vessel transited the Strait of Hormuz inbound on February 28, the day the war started. According to Vortexa, Marathi loaded 1m barrels of Arab-Light crude from Ras Tanura in early March. According to Vortexa, another Dynacom tanker, Pola, has reportedly transited the strait in recent days, although this passage could not be immediately tracked as the vessel’s Automatic Identification System has been off since March 11. Other Dynacom tankers known to have transited the chokepoint outbound since the war began are Smyrni (IMO: 9493779) and Shenlong (IMO: 9379210).

Marathi is just the 10th non-shadow fleet* tanker tracked to have made an outbound voyage through the Strait of Hormuz since March 8, illustrating how transits have plummeted amid Iran’s attacks on shipping. 

The only energy flows relatively unimpacted by the war are Iran’s own exports, with shadow fleet oil and gas carriers dominating transits through the strait.

Shadow fleet tankers carrying Iranian-origin oil and liquefied petroleum gas accounted for about 15% of Strait of Hormuz transits between February 1-27, but now account for over 80%.

Traffic through the strait also appears to now be exclusively diverted through a route dictated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, dubbed the “Tehran toll booth”, with ships transiting the strait forced to sail around Iran’s Larak Island and through Iranian territorial waters.

It was not possible to determine whether Marathi sailed through that route as its Automatic Identification System was switched off for the duration of its voyage from the MEG to India.

As Lloyd’s List has previously reported, Iran is using this new mechanism both to project power and, at least in part, generate revenue by charging some ships for passage. While not all ships are paying for transit, at least two operators are understood to have paid.

A diplomatic source with knowledge of the scheme said reports of Iran seeking $2m payments in yuan were credible, with cryptocurrencies being one of the potential payment avenues.

Dynacom’s George Prokopiou attributed Marathi’s transit through the strait exclusively to “the courage of the crew”.

“There has been no bribes,” he told Lloyd’s List.

One dry bulk industry source also denied that payments were made in exchange for passage.

An Iranian ‘present’ 

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington was in talks with “the right people” in Iran, and that they offered a “present” to show goodwill.

According to Trump, the “present” was Iran agreeing to allow “eight big boats of oil” to transit the strait. He indicated that the vessels were expected to depart on Wednesday.

Transit data from recent days does not point to a surge of non-shadow fleet voyages.

According to Lloyd’s List estimates, at least 13 tankers have transited the strait outbound since Monday — 10 of which are shadow fleet tankers. No mainstream tankers are estimated to have transited between Wednesday and Friday.

However, it is possible that like Marathi, other mainstream tankers may have transited the strait with AIS switched off since Wednesday and could come back online in the coming days.

On Saturday morning, two India-flagged very large gas carriers and a Greek-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged aframax sailed through the Larak detour ahead of transiting the strait outbound. None of the three are shadow fleet vessels.

The aframax, P.Aliki (IMO: 9460136), indicated via AIS it was bound to Karachi, Pakistan. Owners Performance Shipping Incorporated said in an earnings statement earlier in March that the vessel is chartered to Pakistan National Shipping Corporation. The two India-flagged VLGCs stated via AIS that they were Indian ships with Indian crews. 

Chinese ships turned away

While evidence suggests the IRGC is currently coordinating most, if not all, transits through the Strait of Hormuz, transits through this Tehran-approved corridor are not happening seamlessly or at scale.

Two Cosco Shipping-operated ultra-large containerships diverted at the last minute while attempting to leave the Middle East Gulf via the Larak Island route earlier today.

They are the third and fourth vessels to have been tracked abruptly changing course while trying to exit the MEG since Tuesday. 

The second vessel to have diverted is the 75,120 dwt bulk carrier Lotus Rising (IMO: 9217656); the first is St Kitts and Nevis-flagged, 658-teu containership Selen (IMO: 9208459), which attempted to transit the strait on March 24 before it then changed course off Qeshm Island at around 0830 hrs.

The two Cosco boxships and Lotus Rising are either linked to China through ownership or claimed Chinese affiliation in their AIS data. Selen is neither, and is stating via AIS that it is carrying food for Pakistan. 

The exact reason for the U-turns are unclear, but they come just days after a call between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, during which the latter said that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to all and that vessels can pass safely, although countries engaged in the conflict were not under consideration.

In a statement on Friday following the U-turns, the IRGC appeared to contradict Araghchi.

“The IRGC Navy announced that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and any passage through this strait will face a harsh response,” the IRGC said in a statement relayed in the telegram channel of Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

The IRGC said “three container ships of different nationalities” that were moving towards “the designated corridor for ships with permits” were turned back by the IRGC Navy. This was in response to “the lies of the corrupt US president about the Strait of Hormuz being open”, according to the statement.

“Any ship traffic ‘to and from’ the ports of the allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies to any destination and through any corridor is prohibited,” said the IRGC.

All Strait of Hormuz transits are verified by Lloyd’s List Intelligence expert analysts using our AIS vessel tracking data, advanced analytics, and on-the-ground human intelligence to ensure even dark or GNSS-disrupted movements are captured. Lloyd’s List Intelligence subscribers can activate the Strait of Hormuz transit watchlist here