Shipping industry urges caution on Hormuz reopening

• Details of US-Iran pact unclear
• 500 vessels need to cross strait
• Concern over mines and congestion

The shipping industry has reacted cautiously to the US-Iran agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning that moving hundreds of vessels through the chokepoint presents a major logistical challenge.

Executives are now tasked with unwinding three months of disruption. About 500 crude tankers, container ships and commercial vessels still need to transit the strait, as maritime authorities and ship operators work out how to manage an orderly return to normal traffic.

The tentative agreement to end the conflict remains subject to negotiation ahead of a signing ceremony scheduled to take place in Switzerland on Friday. Major details of how the strait will operate after reopening remain unresolved.

A draft of a 14-point memorandum of understanding published by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency state that the waterway would reopen within 30 days under Iranian “arrangements” once mines are cleared. The meaning of that phrase remains unclear and neither Washington nor Tehran has officially confirmed the reported terms.

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had authorised the “toll-free opening” of the strait and the lifting of the US naval blockade. “Ships of the World, start your engines,” Trump wrote. “Let the oil flow!”

On Monday Vice President JD Vance suggested that significant details still needed to be negotiated.

Describing the memorandum of understanding as “about a page and a half” and a “very general” document, he told CNN: “On a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase.”

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The International Maritime Organization said it was assessing how ships could move safely through the waterway amid concerns over mines and congestion.

Its secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said: “We are working in close collaboration with member states and partners to implement this plan safely and effectively.

“However, its implementation will require time to ensure that all necessary safety and security guarantees are in place.”

The International Chamber of Shipping welcomed the agreement, but stressed that vessels must be able to cross “unimpeded”. Thomas Kazakos, the organisation’s secretary-general, said 500 ships still needed to pass through the strait to exit the region.

Philip Belcher, marine director at tanker association Intertanko, said a cautious approach should be taken and vessels should continue to carry out ship-specific risk assessments before entering the area.

The measured response contrasts with the optimism seen in energy markets on Monday, when oil prices fell to their lowest level since early March.

Tanker broker Clarksons said the recovery in crude shipping was likely to occur in phases, beginning with an “initial cargo scramble” as delayed and stranded vessels start moving again, followed by a period of normalisation before trade patterns recover in full.

Major shipping companies have also refrained from declaring an immediate return to normal operations. Danish giant Maersk welcomed the agreement, but said it had made no changes to its Middle East operations while details remained unclear.

The cautious mood was echoed by Jotaro Tamura, chief executive of Mitsui OSK Lines, one of the world’s largest tanker operators, who said shipowners would need evidence that the agreement was translating into safer conditions before resuming normal trading patterns.

“What will have to come in place is not just a simple agreement between the relevant countries, but it has to be material and translated into the real situations in the Strait of Hormuz, so that shipping lines can make themselves comfortable to go through,” he told The Financial Times.

Tamura said it could take “at least a couple of weeks or if not a month” before operators regained confidence in the route, citing previous failed attempts to restore normal shipping movements.

Before the conflict, about 135 vessels transited the strait each day. The waterway usually carries around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.