The CEO of Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines stated that resuming shipping through the waterway ‘may take at least a couple of weeks’
Shipping companies will avoid transiting the Strait of Hormuz for several weeks until they are certain that the US-Iran agreement is “substantive,” the CEO of Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines informed the Financial Times in an interview released on Tuesday.
The Iran conflict, which started on February 28 with US-Israeli airstrikes, largely halted traffic along the route that handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply, as well as goods like aluminium and urea.
Mitsui O.S.K., one of Japan’s three largest shipping companies, operates a fleet of over 900 vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers, and ferries.
“What needs to be established is not merely a basic accord between the involved nations, but it must be substantive and reflected in the actual conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, so that shipping lines feel safe enough to proceed,” Mitsui O.S.K.’s Jotaro Tamura told the FT prior to US President Donald Trump announcing a deal to conclude the war in Iran.
“Considering the events of the past few months, I think it’s fair to expect that it could take at least a couple of weeks, if not a month,” Tamura said to the newspaper.