Seatrade-Maritime: SeaLead vessel makes fourth Hormuz transit in two months

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

The Antigua-Barbuda flagged container ship Paya Lebar has made its fourth transit of the Strait of Hormuz in less than two months on 8 June and would appear to be establishing a regular trading pattern despite the restrictions in the waterway.

According to AIS data from Pole Star Global the SeaLead Shipping owned vessel crossed the Strait of Hormuz on 8 June via the route prescribed by the Iranian authorities close to Larak Island and exited the through the US blockade in the Arabian Sea on 9 June. The vessel is broadcasting that it is headed for the Port of Kandla in India.

The Paya Lebar entered the port of Jebel Ali on 29 May have crossed into the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, it then also called at Hamad Port in Qatar, and Khalifa Port in UAE  before transiting back through Hormuz.

It is a similar pattern to when Paya Lebar first transited westbound through the Strait of Hormuz westbound into the Gulf on 13 April calling at Jebel Ali and Khalifa ports in the UAE and Hamad in Qatar, before crossing the Strait of Hormuz eastbound on 28 April.

The SeaLead vessel would appear to have established a regular trade between Gulf and Indian ports at time when container shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains restricted to the occasional exit of vessels that have been stranded in the Gulf.

Singapore-headquartered SeaLead, which has previously denied links with Iran, seems to have been able to tread a fine line between Iranian and US forces in the region.

The shipping company was forced to offhire nearly a third of its fleet in mid-2025 when chartered in vessels were hit with Iran sanctions.

In July last year the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)  sanctioned 16 container ships the company had on charter over links with Iran. SeaLead acted to quickly terminate the charters on the 16 vessels and denied it had ties with Iran.

However, in March this year the US Department of Justice filed civil forfeiture complaints seeking to seize $2.4 million in funds allegedly intended for Sea Lead Shipping Pte Ltd and its Indian subsidiary, as part of a broader action targeting more than $15.3 million tied to a sanctions-evasion network linked to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader.