Shipping Matters - Strait of Hormuz Update

Turning our attention to today's topic, Claire, which seems to be the topic we've talked about most on this run of Shipping Matters, the US-Iran conflict and the impact on the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, we got the announcement that we've all been hoping for.

the agreement between the US and Iran to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz with a 14-point MOU and a 60-day timeframe to conclude negotiations.

So I guess my first question to you would be, what was your reaction to the news? And also, did our clients' reaction, was it similar to yours?

Well, I think first of all, that an end to a conflict is seen as positive by everyone.

But from a tanker market perspective, I think everybody's been facing it with some caution and some trepidation.

What does it actually mean? We had a ceasefire that occurred back in April time, but it was very brief.

I think everybody's positive is that there have been so many ships that are stuck within the Middle East Gulf and so many seafarers still stuck there.

So the positive of it is that you want those ships to be able to exit.

Interestingly, we have been seeing more ships exit from the Middle East Gulf over the past week to 10 days.

So that's slowly been happening.

But the way that that's obviously been happening is that we've had ships moving along the coastal route in Oman.

But we have seen ships moving out, and that is one positive.

But again, ship owners are looking at this with caution.

Will a ceasefire remain? Will a deal remain? Will Hormuz be opened? And at the moment, it seems to be question mark whether it's fully open or not.

That caution is understandable.

I mean, of course it is.