Seatrade-Maritime: Eight container ships escape Gulf via Strait of Hormuz

In the short period that Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open to all traffic, around eight ships — six of them operated by MSC — fled the Arabian Gulf trap, according to consultant Linerlytica.

All six MSC vessels managed to sail through the strait on 18 April, including the 19,224 teu Clara, which was the largest ship in the area north of the strait.

The other five MSC ships were the 16,000 teu MSC Grace, 13,102 teu MSC Margrit XIII and 9,200 teu MSC Madeleine, the 11,660 teu MSC Francesca and 6,673 teu Epaminondas. 

All of the vessels disabled their transponder and all but the last two have have since resumed transmitting AIS signals.

MSC Francesca and Epaminondas are “currently still switched off with their positions still to be verified,” said Linerlytica.

Two other vessels, the 1,030 teu Bhagya Laxmi and 2,702 teu SSF Valence also managed to leave the Arabian Gulf over the weekend bringing down the total number of container ships to less than 100 units with an aggregate capacity of 270,000 teu, compared to a peak of 430,000 teu.

Another four CMA CGM boxships failed to cross the line and were turned back after the Iranian military declared the Strait closed again, following the US seizure of the 5,125 teu Touska on 20 April.

The IRISL-operated Touska was sailing to Bandar Abbas from Port Klang when the US navy intercepted, disabled, and seized the ship.

Linerlytica, however, said that the US blockade of Iranian ports has “made little difference thus far, with at least seven Iranian-linked ships able to bypass the blockade in the last week alone.”

Even with the US and Iranian blockades, the level of demand has not been able to support Asia to Europe spot rates, according to the consultant.

“Asia-Europe spot rates continued to soften with carriers unable to hold ranks as capacity utilisation continues to decline. The 1 May rate hike appears to be doomed after Maersk extended their end April rates through the first two weeks of May.”

In contrast, Pacific spot rates from Asia are managing to hold up with the SCFI reporting a fourth consecutive week of spot rate increases.

“Carriers are wary of sending the wrong signals by dropping rates ahead of the conclusion of the annual service contracts by 1 May,” said Linerlytica.