BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 18. Two major Chinese state-controlled shipping companies have stopped sending their oil tankers through key Middle Eastern maritime chokepoints and are instead collecting crude cargoes outside the Gulf, Reuters reported, citing industry executives, tanker-tracking data and a ship broker.
COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation and China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) have kept their tankers away from the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb since late July, according to tanker tracker Vortexa and a ship broker.
The shift comes amid heightened security concerns that have disrupted oil transportation to China, the world’s largest crude importer.
CMES informed investors in late July that its vessels would not enter the Strait of Hormuz for the time being. According to a public filing, the company also said other shipping operators had been avoiding Bab al-Mandeb, although it did not specify its own policy regarding the strategic passage at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
The Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb are among the world’s most important maritime routes for energy supplies, connecting major Middle Eastern oil producers with markets in Asia and elsewhere.
COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation and CMES together control more than 100 very large crude carriers, each capable of transporting around 2 million barrels of oil.
Before the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, the two Chinese shipping companies handled roughly half of China’s crude oil imports from the Middle East, according to shipping industry sources cited by Reuters.
Their decision to keep tankers outside the two strategic waterways highlights the impact of regional security risks on China’s energy supply chains and international oil transportation.
