LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Several tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran said it had closed navigation, trading sources said on Saturday.
“Our ships will stay put for several days,” one top executive at a major trading desk said. Satellite images from tanker trackers showed vessels backed up next to big ports, such as Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, and not moving through Hormuz.
Multiple vessels in the area have received VHF transmission from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz”, an official with the EU naval mission Aspides told Reuters.
The British Navy said Iran’s orders were not legally binding and advised vessels to transit with caution.
Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has not completely stopped but disruptions are building rapidly, shipbroker Poten & Partners said in a note to clients.
The tanker association INTERTANKO said the U.S. Navy had warned against navigation in the area – the whole of the Gulf, Gulf of Oman, North Arabian Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz – saying it could not guarantee the safety of shipping.
Greece’s shipping ministry advised vessels on Saturday to avoid the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, according to an advisory seen by Reuters.
Some 20% of global oil, including from producers Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait and Iran, passes through Hormuz along with large volumes of LNG from Qatar.
Fourteen LNG tankers have shown signs of slowing down, U-turning or stopping in or around the Strait, said Laura Page from consultancy Kpler, adding that the number would likely rise, posing risks to Qatari LNG exports.
German container-shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said it is suspending all vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz until further notice. Services calling on ports in the Gulf may experience delays, rerouting or schedule adjustments, the company said.
Denmark’s Maersk said in an undated update on its website that it was coordinating with security partners on all operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden but cargo acceptance in the Middle East remained open.
French shipping group CMA CGM said it had told its vessels inside or headed for the Gulf to proceed to shelter after the United States and Israel attacked Iran.
(Reporting by Dmitri Zhdannikov, Marwa Rashad, Shariq Khan and Enes Tunagur, Renee Maltezou and Yannis Souliotis; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Kevin Liffey, Louise Heavens and Edmund Klamann)
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