Japanese crude tanker emerges outside Hormuz in rare, undercover transit
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Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz off, Musandam, Oman, on May 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A Japanese supertanker has emerged in the Gulf of Oman after last signalling that it was inside the Persian Gulf, indicating a rare, undercover transit through the Strait of Hormuz by a vessel from the Asian country.
The Eneos Endeavor, a very large crude carrier, began transmitting its location north of the Omani capital Muscat late on May 13, sailing east toward the Arabian Sea, ship-tracking data show.
That came after the tanker’s last signal showed that it was in the Persian Gulf, north of Abu Dhabi, on May 11. The gap in its transmissions suggests the ship sailed through Hormuz without broadcasting its movements.
The tanker is listed as part of Japanese refiner Eneos Holdings’ fleet, the company’s website shows.
Eneos president Tomohide Miyata confirmed the vessel passed through Hormuz during an earnings press conference on May 14.
The company expects the ship to arrive in Japan sometime between the end of May and early June, he said.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said one Japanese-affiliated vessel safely passed through Hormuz on May 14 and is headed for the Asian country, without giving details or naming the ship.
There are still 39 Japanese-affiliated ships in the Persian Gulf, she said.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who also announced the journey without naming the ship, confirmed that it had not paid any tolls to the Iranian government to secure its passage.
Eneos Endeavor had sailed into the Persian Gulf in late February to pick up crude from the United Arab Emirates’ Das Island and Kuwait’s Mina Al Ahmadi.
Draft readings indicate that the vessel is nearly full with cargo. It originally indicated Japan’s Kiire as a destination in late April.
Eneos Endeavor’s journey would make it only the second Japanese-owned supertanker to have crossed the chokepoint since the Middle East war started in late February.
In late April, the Idemitsu Maru was the first Japanese VLCC to make the crossing, though it did so broadcasting its voyage. BLOOMBERG
