Tankers showing caution around Strait of Hormuz after U.S. attack on Iran nuclear sites
View looking north showing the Strait of Hormuz, connecting the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf, with the Zagros Mountains and Qeshm Island of Iran in the background, and areas of Oman, Muscat and the United Arab Emirates in the foreground, as seen from the Space Shuttle Columbia during shuttle mission STS-52, 22nd October to 1st November 1992.
Space Frontiers | Archive Photos | Getty Images
More tankers are reversing course away from the Strait of Hormuz as concerns rise on the possible closure of the vital chokepoint of trade.
Yui Torikata, senior liquid market analyst at industry data firm Kpler, said the situation is fluid.
The firm’s data is showing a notable event occurred between early Sunday and early Monday, when at least six vessels — two very large crude carriers, three chemical tankers, and one refined products carrier—diverted their courses away from the Strait of Hormuz.
The specific vessels identified are:
- Damsgaard (Norway flag, departed from Pakistan’s Qasim port on June 20 and heading to Ruwais in Abu Dhabi)
- South Loyalty (Marshall Islands flag, departed from South Korea’s Ulsan port on May 14 heading to Basrah in Iraq)
- COSWISDOM Lake (Hong Kong flag, departed from Zhanjiang, China, on June 7 and heading to the UAE’s Zirku)
- Kohzan Maru (UK flag, departed from Niigata port on May 29 and has no destination port call)
- Red Ruby (Panama flag, departed from the UAE area of Fujairah June 18 but has headed back to Fujairah anchorage)
- Marie C (Marshall Islands flag, departed from Fujairah anchorage on June 22 and is heading to Kuwait)
All vessels are in ballast, meaning they either are empty or carrying light loads.
“However, the situation has already evolved,” Torikata said. “As of this morning, three of those six vessels —the South Loyalty, Coswisdom Lake, and Damsgaard — have again changed direction and are now heading back towards the Strait of Hormuz. The other three vessels are currently idling off the coasts of Khor Fakkan and Muscat.”
“This specific weekend event should be seen in a broader context,” Torikata said. “In the immediate wake of the Israel-Iran conflict, the number of available empty [ballast] crude carriers within the Middle East Gulf zone fell to a record low, indicating significant reluctance from shipowners to enter the area. However, that trend has since reversed.”
“The count of available tankers recovered toward the weekend, and the number of crude carriers in the Gulf of Oman signaling their intent to enter the Mideast Gulf has also recovered from the low seen on June 16,” she added. “This suggests that, for now, the overall flow of vessels into the region is being sustained despite the recent, specific diversion event.”
The moves follow a U.S. attack Saturday on what have been identified as three major nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran.
Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said the reports by the UK Maritime Trade Operations on widespread electronic interference and GPS jamming and location spoofing are adding to vessel owners’ worries.
Worries of more tensions
Frontline tanker Front Eagle and dark fleet tanker Adalynn collided last week near the Strait of Hormuz. Following the collision, a fire on the deck of the Front Eagle erupted and was extinguished.
“Combined with increasing insurance costs, some owners will simply avoid the area — like Frontline,” Lipow said.
The tanker company recently said it would stop accepting new contracts to sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Other companies are likely to follow its lead,” shipping publication Lloyd’s List wrote in a recent report on the Frontline decision.
“This causes a de facto partial supply disruption if there is a lack of tankers to carry the oil that needs to be exported,” Lipow said.
Iranian Navy soldiers at an armed speed boat in Persian Gulf near the strait of Hormuz about 1320km (820 miles) south of Tehran, April 30, 2019.
Morteza Nikoubazl | Nurphoto | Getty Images
“Some tanker owners may feel that China, who buys 90% of Iranian crude oil along with significant quantities of oil from the Middle East, is pressuring Iran not to disrupt shipping,” Lipow added. “While oil exports are Iran’s economic lifeline and it would not be in Iran’s interest to halt its own exports, if cornered, Iran might decide to inflict as much economic pain as it can on the rest of the world.”
Iran’s parliament voted on Sunday to block the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report from Iran’s state-owned Press TV that CNBC could not independently verify. A final decision rests with the country’s national security council.
British maritime security firm Ambrey issued an alert that five U.S.-affiliated merchant ships departed the Arabian/Persian Gulf since the U.S. military operations, and no ships publicly affiliated with the U.S. appear to have entered the area since the U.S. strikes. “Ambrey is aware of at least five merchant ships that were destined to enter the Arabian/Persian Gulf but about-turned or chose to wait,” it wrote. Ambrey added that at least two of these ships did not have a public U.S.-affiliation, indicating broader concern in the market. Meanwhile, it noted several U.S.-flagged merchant ships that have gathered in UAE territorial seas. Ambrey’s view of the situation is that Iran is “almost certain to respond militarily to the U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities. This is likely to include attacks or seizures of US-affiliated shipping,” it wrote.
Lipow said the conflict could spark additional geopolitical instability.
“While China has condemned the United States attack on Iran, we have not seen China provide Iran with any kind of support other than words,” Lipow said. “Russian attacks Ukraine, the United States attacks Iran, now China may feel emboldened to attack Taiwan.”
Jakob Larsen, head of security at Bimco, the world’s largest direct-membership organization for shipowners, charterers, shipbrokers, and agents, warned Iran could attempt a wider disruption of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz through attacks on merchant ships. Anti-ship missiles or drones of both airborne and surface types could be used in these attacks, he said.
“The laying of sea mines would constitute another dangerous development, but Iran’s intent to do so is questionable due to the risk to Iran-affiliated commercial ships and the risk of environmental disaster in case a ship is damaged,” Larsen said.
The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea, is recognized as one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. The inability of oil to traverse through, even temporarily, can ratchet up global energy prices, raise shipping costs and create significant supply delays.
In 2023, oil flows through the waterway averaged 20.9 million barrels per day, accounting for about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Hormuz handles less than 4% of global container trade, but the ports of Jebel Ali and Khor Fakkan are critical intermediary points for global shipping networks in the region.
The majority of cargo volumes from those ports are destined for Dubai, which has become a hub for the movement of freight with feeder services in the Persian Gulf, South Asia, and East Africa.
Correction: This article was updated to correct the spelling of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tesla has requested that NHTSA withhold its response to the numerous questions the regulators had about its recent Robotaxi launch.
As for the agency, it said that it is aware of some disturbing videos in which we can see Tesla’s system making serious mistakes on its first day.
Prior to Tesla’s Robotaxi launch on Sunday, NHTSA had sent Tesla a series of questions about the program, which Tesla was required to answer by June 19th.
The agency wanted a lot more details because it is particularly concerned about the fact that Tesla is using its ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’ in the Robotaxi service while it is currently under investigation for its involvement in several serious crashes.
Tesla has now responded to NHTSA, but it has requested that the agency keep all its answers confidential.
The automaker has consistently avoided sharing data about its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving programs, particularly crash data.
Automakers and companies developing self-driving and ADAS systems are required to report all crashes related to those systems, but Tesla has been abusing NHTSA’s program to get some of the data reported.
Publications have been trying to obtain the data through the courts, and Tesla has fought the effort, claiming that it would ‘suffer financial harm’ if its self-driving crash data were released.
There’s currently no indication that NHTSA will be able to release any information about Tesla’s Robotaxi service.
As we previously reported, the service launched with a Tesla employee in the front passenger seat with a finger constantly on the door unlactch button, which is likely to have been reprogrammed as a kill switch for the self-driving system.
This is likely information that would be confirmed and detailed in Tesla’s responses to NHTSA, and it would be critical, as it would prove that Tesla’s autonomous driving system can’t be considered level 4, which is now required to operate a commercial autonomous driving system, such as Robotaxi, in Texas.
Robotaxi has already been spotted making several significant mistakes over its first day of commercial operations, including driving in the wrong lane with incoming traffic and dropping passengers in the middle of an intersection.
NHTSA has confirmed that it is aware of those incidents and that it is currently gathering information about the situation:
NHTSA is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information. NHTSA will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment, in accordance with the Vehicle Safety Act and our data-driven, risk-based investigative process. Under U.S. law, NHTSA does not pre-approve new technologies or vehicle systems – rather, manufacturers certify that each vehicle meets NHTSA’s rigorous safety standards, and the agency investigates incidents involving potential safety defects. Following an assessment of those reports and other relevant information, NHTSA will take any necessary actions to protect road safety.
The agency has also stated that its investigation into Tesla’s FSD-Supervised/Beta “remains open.”
Electrek’s Take
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is on record saying, “Transparency is the key to trust.” Yet, Tesla has not been anything close to transparent about any of its autonomous driving or ADAS system efforts.
On the contrary, it has gone out of its way to try to hide any level of data consistently.
In fact, Tesla has never released any data about FSD beyond cumulative mileage, which doesn’t indicate the system’s performance. Tesla even mentioned multiple increases in improvements in miles between disengagements without ever sharing actual data.
It’s incredibly disappointing. Elon is a great example of: Do what I say, not what I do.
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With much of the US sweltering under a record-breaking heat dome, many EV buyers and owners are left wondering how their favorite electric cars perform in extreme summer temperatures. A new study tracking over 29,700 electric cars in real-world conditions provides the answers, and we’re sharing them here: these are the EVs that handle the summer heat best.
The EV leasing and subscription specialists Recurrent Auto have had tens of thousands of new and used EVs in their database over the years, giving them a massive dataset to analyze and draw conclusions from. So when they published their findings about which EVs had the best range in 90- and 100-degree weather, it was required reading for any would-be EV expert.
“Most of the country has a heat advisory right now, so we’re fielding lots of questions about EV batteries in extreme heat,” reads the intro to the Recurrent report. “Here’s the deal … electric cars work perfectly fine in hot weather. Range loss at 90F (32C) is minimal. Less than 5% change.”
Like many real-world aspects of EV ownership and longevity, that seems a lot better than what most people – or even most analysts would likely tell you. So, what gives?
“When temperatures pass 100F (37C), range impacts can be 17-18%,” they continue, “but these reductions are temporary while the AC is working to keep passengers cool … we advise that owners and dealerships avoid letting an EV sit with extremely low states of charge in this heat. An EV uses its battery power to keep the battery cool.”
The infographic
Recurrent’s findings put the Audi e-tron in the top spot, followed closely by recent JD Power favorites BMW i4 and Rivian R1S, all of which reportedly lose less than 3% of their range, even at an absolutely blistering 100°F.
To put those percentages into some easier to digest numbers (and fix the fact that Recurrent’s infographic makes it look, to my eyes, like you can’t drive a Nissan Ariya or Chevy Blazer at 100+ degrees), I’ve done the math, starting with the EV’s EPA-rated range under “ideal” conditions, then translated that using the percentages from Recurrent.
Would I bet my family’s safety and convenience on this rough-and-tumble chart while planning my next road trip? Absolutely not – go download Chargeway for that. Would I do the math because it’s a fun mental exercise that’s going to generate fun comments? Absolutely.
Check out the math, below, and if you see an EV you like in there click on the link in the table to go find a great local deal on a hot weather ready electric car near you. Links to Rivian and Tesla dealers weren’t included because they don’t have dealers.
EV range in extreme heat
SOURCES: Recurrent Auto, via LinkedIn; featured image via Audi.
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