COSCO Shipping is coordinating through “relevant channels” to withdraw its remaining vessels from the Middle East Gulf, the state conglomerate’s president has told Lloyd’s List, as a steady stream of Chinese ships continues to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Maritime Silk Road Port Cooperation Forum in Ningbo on May 27, Lin Ji said the company is arranging the orderly passage of its vessels through the strait while closely monitoring the progress of US-Iran peace talks.
“For us, the key priority is ensuring the safety of our crew and vessels,” he stressed.
Lin did not elaborate on what channels Cosco is using, but the evacuation is widely believed to have been facilitated through diplomatic arrangements between Beijing and Tehran, particularly following the visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Beijing on May 6.
Since then, the pace of departures has accelerated markedly. Lloyd’s List Intelligence has tracked more than 10 Chinese-owned vessels crossing the strait to exit the MEG, including several Cosco ships.
Among them, Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation’s very large crude carrier Yuan Hua Hu (IMO: 9723588) made the transit on May 13, followed by another CSET VLCC Yuan Gui Yang (IMO: 9843302).
More recently, the company’s aframax Hua Lin Wan (IMO: 9614086) passed through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday and is currently sailing out of the Gulf of Oman into the Indian Ocean, according to LLI vessel-tracking data. Like other Cosco tankers that have exited in recent weeks, the vessel took the route via Iran’s Larak Island.
However, several Cosco vessels remain inside the MEG. Nan Lin Wan (IMO: 9783411) and Tong Lin Wan (IMO: 9652014), along with panamax Hai Tun Zuo (IMO: 9435595), are still within the MEG but have moved from their previous holding positions to anchorages closer to the strait.
Nearby is also a small dry bulker, Tai An Kou (IMO: 9223277), operated by sister company Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers.
At the forum’s opening ceremony, Lin said that the global economic landscape is undergoing profound restructuring, with geopolitical conflicts and trade protectionism creating overlapping risks.
“The safety and resilience of industrial and supply chains has become particularly important,” he said.
Resilience under threat
Lin’s comments came as industry leaders gathered in Ningbo warned, however, that global maritime resilience is under growing threat.
Tim Power, managing director of shipping consultancy Drewry, cautioned delegates that the industry risks losing the very foundations that have sustained global trade through successive crises.
“In 1988 the American rock band Cinderella released a song called You Don’t Know What You've Got Till It’s Gone. I fear, ladies and gentlemen, that if we are not careful those words will apply to us,” Power said.
Power noted that despite facing the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the ongoing Middle East conflict, trade disputes and the Panama Canal drought, global seaborne trade has continued to grow.
“The ability of trade to grow is largely due to the resilience of our global maritime sector,” he said, identifying four pillars underpinning that resilience: standards and commonality, a global ecosystem of professionals, capacity in ships, ports, shipyards and waterways, and flexibility to adapt to crises.
But he warned that multiple risks now threaten to erode these foundations.
“The Red Sea has been closed more or less for two years, the Strait of Hormuz now is more or less closed,” Power said. “Imagine what would happen if the Malacca Strait was closed, or the Dover Strait was closed, or the Strait of Gibraltar was closed or controlled. Imagine how much damage that would do to the maritime sector, its resilience and to global trade.”
The situation in Hormuz remains highly volatile, following a fresh round of military exchanges this week, with US forces striking targets in Bandar Abbas on Wednesday and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retaliating against what it described as an “American air base”.
US President Donald Trump has warned MEG ally Oman not to side with Iran to share control over the Strait of Hormuz, while dismissing Iranian state media claims that an initial framework had been reached under which Tehran would reopen the strait in exchange for a lifting of the US naval blockade.
Power also highlighted the risk of fragmentation in global regulatory structures, the weaponisation of trade for political purposes, and the potential for fuel availability issues as the energy transition accelerates.
“All of this undermines resilience and leads to escalating costs, and that will harm global trade and the global economy,” he said.
“Our duty, all of us in the maritime community, is to understand where our resilience comes from, make sure that the wider society and our political leadership understand it, and then fight to protect it.”
