Two Chinese Supertankers Exit Persian Gulf as Hormuz Traffic Trickles Out
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COSCO Shipping's Yuan Gui Yang. The vessel is the group's last very large crude carrier (VLCC) to sail out of the Strait of Hormuz.
Two Chinese very large crude carriers (VLCCs) sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz on the morning of May 20, easing a weeks-long bottleneck for vessels trapped in the Persian Gulf after Iran closed the critical oil chokepoint.
The two 300,000-ton-capacity ships departed an anchorage off Dubai on May 19. Unlike other Chinese vessels that recently navigated the tense waterway, neither ship broadcast the “CHINESE OWNER & CREW” identity tag on their tracking systems while transiting the strait.
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- Two Chinese VLCCs exited Strait of Hormuz on May 20, easing a weeks-long bottleneck after Iran's closure on March 1.
- Ships included COSCO's Yuan Gui Yang and Sinochem's Xin Li Yang, both stranded since March.
- Over 2,500 vessels remained in the Persian Gulf as of May 20; China urged reopening tied to a Middle East ceasefire.
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Who’s Who
- China COSCO Shipping Corporation
- China COSCO Shipping Corporation is a state-owned Chinese shipping company. Per the article, one of its VLCCs, the Yuan Gui Yang, recently exited the Strait of Hormuz after being stranded in the Persian Gulf. COSCO still has four smaller vessels stranded, with passage expected by late May or early June.
- Sinochem Holdings Corporation
- Sinochem Holdings Corp., a state-run Chinese company, owns the Hong Kong-registered VLCC Xin Li Yang. The vessel was stranded in the Persian Gulf after loading Qatari crude on March 2 but safely exited the Strait of Hormuz on May 20, now heading to Quanzhou port.
- HMM Co.
- HMM Co., a South Korean shipping company, owns the VLCC Universal Winner. On May 20, the vessel safely sailed through the Strait of Hormuz carrying 300,000 tons of Kuwaiti oil, bound for Ulsan, South Korea.
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What Happened When
- Late February 2026：
- Chinese-flagged VLCC Yuan Gui Yang entered the Persian Gulf.
- March 1, 2026：
- Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, trapping three COSCO supertankers in the Persian Gulf.
- March 2, 2026：
- Hong Kong-registered VLCC Xin Li Yang loaded Qatari crude and became stranded.
- March 3, 2026：
- Yuan Gui Yang loaded crude at Iraq's Al-Bakr port before being stranded.
- April 11, 2026：
- COSCO VLCC Yuan Zhen Hu cleared the Strait of Hormuz.
- May 13, 2026：
- COSCO VLCC Yuan Hua Hu cleared the Strait of Hormuz.
- May 18, 2026：
- Iran established the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA).
- May 19, 2026：
- Two Chinese VLCCs departed an anchorage off Dubai.
- May 19, 2026：
- China's U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong spoke at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, urging reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Morning of May 20, 2026：
- Two Chinese VLCCs sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz, easing the bottleneck.
- May 20, 2026：
- South Korean-registered VLCC Universal Winner sailed through the strait bound for Ulsan, South Korea.
- As of the morning of May 20, 2026：
- More than 2,500 vessels remained in the Persian Gulf, according to COSCO Shipping Technology data.
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