COSCO Shipping sources: Vessels with new bookings for Middle East operations will not pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the time being.

PANews reported on March 25 that COSCO Shipping Lines previously issued a service notice: effective immediately, new booking services (general containers) for routes from the Far East to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq—the Middle Eastern Gulf countries—will resume. However, this resumption of shipments does not mean that COSCO Shipping's container ships can pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Multiple COSCO Shipping personnel stated that vessels will not pass through the strait for the time being. Instead, similar to CMA CGM's previous plan, containers will first be transported by sea to the ports of Sohar in Oman, Khor Fekan and Fujairah in the UAE, and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on the east side of the strait, and then transported to these countries via land-based transshipment.