Iran war: French and Japanese-owned ships make first Strait of Hormuz crossings

A French container ship and a Japanese-owned tanker have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, in what appear to be the first such transits since the war in Iran closed the crucial waterway.

The CMA CGM Kribi container ship exited the strait on Friday, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and two people familiar with the situation.

That is the first ship linked to western Europe that is known to have made it through since the war began more than a month ago. Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines confirmed on Friday that the liquefied natural gas tanker it part-owns also crossed – another first.

Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has practically halted since the US and Israel attacked Iran, with just a trickle of ships able to make the crossing. Those have mostly been vessels associated with nations friendly to Tehran, with a system emerging whereby Iran preapproves transit along a route hugging close to its coast.

The French and Japanese ships appear to mark a shift, though it is not clear whether this is the result of government diplomacy or ad hoc negotiations by companies and their intermediaries.

Both France and Japan called for a ceasefire earlier this week, and President Emmanuel Macron has been vocal about the need to get the strait reopened, but saying that can only happen once the bombing stops.