Hours after the announcement of an extension of the US-Iran ceasefire, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is reported to have seized two container ships in the Strait of Hormuz -- the MSC Francesca (11,660 TEU) and the MSC Epaminondas (6,690 TEU).
Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta – the leading ocean and air freight intelligence platform – calls ongoing blockades and attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz ‘the weaponization of trade’.
He said: "The extended ceasefire can be seen as a positive step, but if it brings a calming of conflict in the skies, that has not reached the water because there is no safe and free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the weaponization of trade, with both sides recognizing the pain they can inflict with a bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The seized vessels were on eastbound voyages and two of six MSC ships which transited the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend while switching off AIS transponders, with the remaining four reaching safer waters.
Strait of Hormuz transits were increasing
Data shows Saturday marked the highest number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz since the escalation of conflict at the end of February. A daily average of around 14 merchant ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past four weeks, but this is only 10% of normal transits. (....)