CMA CGM Containership Uses Iranian Route Through Strait of Hormuz
While the United Nations continues to say its evacuation plan for seafarers and their vessels remains suspended while it awaits further safety guarantees, ships are still making the transit. Container carrier giant CMA CGM confirmed in a brief statement that it has been able to move one of its trapped vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The 154,222 dwt CMA CGM Galapagos has now anchored off Muscat, Oman, after having been trapped in the Persian Gulf since the start of the conflict at the end of February. No details were provided on the transit of the vessel, but tracking shows it proceeded to the Iranian-sanctioned route near Lark Island.
Built in 2022, it is an ultra-large container vessel registered in France with a capacity of 15,254 TEU. Other carriers, such as Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, and Evergreen, have also highlighted that they were able to move vessels out of the Gulf, but most of them have been smaller feeder-type vessels.
CMA CGM took the northern corridor for its transit (courtesy of Marine Traffic)
CMA CGM called the safe transit of its vessel “an important milestone in a regional context,” but did not provide additional details. The online routing shows the vessel is resuming a trip to China, where it is shown to be arriving in mid-July. CMA CGM said it has 10 additional vessels that remain in the Persian Gulf, but did not comment on any plans to possibly evacuate other ships.
It comes after IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Domingues said on Friday that they had been able to evacuate at least 115 vessels in three-and-a-half days before suspending their efforts. He said that represented about 2,500 seafarers out of an estimated 11,000 seafarers aboard around 600 ships still trapped in the Gulf.
The IMO said it had paused the operation after the IRGC made statements that vessels in the region that used an unauthorized corridor would be subject to “legal sanctions.” Dominguez said they were following up on that statement when they learned the Ever Lovely had been struck, and that prompted the pause. He also repeated the statement that the Ever Lovely had not been in touch with the Omani officials and was not following the IMO’s procedures, although Evergreen Line says it was transiting on the route recommended by UK Maritime Trade operations.
However, while he said the official position was that the evacuation effort was suspended, Dominguez said they had preliminary information Friday that a further 11 vessels were making the transit in the northern corridor maintained by Iran, and four were in the southern corridor off Oman.
Iran continues to assert that the only route is its corridor and that all vessels require its permission regardless of the agreements. It stuck the Evergreen Line Ever Lovely on Thursday and the tanker Kiku on Saturday, saying that both vessels were not following the procedures. Donald Trump said Iran had launched four drones on Thursday, with the U.S. having shot down three.
U.S. Central Command reported later on Saturday that it had struck a further 10 Iranian military targets in response to “continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping.” Reports said Iran had responded by launching retaliatory strikes against U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
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Trump took to social media to repeat his threats against Iran. He said the U.S. “struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn!”
Despite the recent back-and-forth strikes, ships appear to be making the transit. Maritime AI data intelligence firm Windward calculated that 18 vessels had been outbound from the Gulf on Saturday, June 27, with one operating dark. It reported that 22 vessels were inbound, although it did not detail which corridor was being used. Citing data from Vortexa, it said 3.9 million barrels of crude and a total of 4.12 million barrels had transited outbound.