Japanese shippers await details on Hormuz reopening, mine clearance

TOKYO — Japanese shippers welcomed on Monday (June 15) the US-Iran peace agreement which will reopen the Strait of Hormuz but are awaiting more details of the deal and clearance of mines before allowing their ships to pass the chokepoint.

According to the association, 38 Japanese-linked vessels remain stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US-Israeli war with Iran that began on Feb 28 has largely stopped shipping through the strait, the transit route for roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply, along with vital products, such as aluminium and urea.

Global oil prices fell 4 per cent on Monday after US President Donald Trump and Iran's deputy foreign minister said they had reached an initial deal to end the war and resume traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

A spokesperson for the Japanese Shipowners' Association said on Monday that while the group welcomed the peace agreement, it wanted to "wait a little longer for more concrete information", which he expected by June 19, when the US-Iran pact is scheduled to be signed in Switzerland.

There had been news reports that mines had been laid in the area, the spokesperson said, adding: "Given the situation, we cannot simply say, 'Right then, let's go' based on news of the agreement alone."

Nippon Yusen, the country's biggest shipper, said it hoped operations would return to normal as soon as possible, but a spokesperson added it was too early to comment on the schedules of Japan-linked vessels stranded in the Gulf.

He declined to say how many of the company's ships remain in the Gulf.

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