Iran has threatened South Korean shipping company Sinokor with legal action for repeatedly violating rules it has imposed to control the Strait of Hormuz. The warning is the first direct threat against a specific shipowner for moving oil out of the Gulf through the contested waterway, which Iran regards as crucial leverage in its conflict with the US.
The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body Iran set up in May to manage transits through the strait, said on Tuesday that Sinokor ships had committed the highest number of "crossing violations" over the past three months and that Iran had taken "enforcement action" against seven ships. Lloyd's List reported last week that seven Sinokor vessels had been attacked in the region since hostilities began. The PGSA said that as of November 1, legal action would be taken against all Sinokor vessels, but it did not specify what form that action could take. Sinokor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company, founded by secretive Korean tycoon Ga-Hyun Chung, began buying the largest class of oil tanker at the start of the year, before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Backed financially by MSC, the world's largest container shipping company, it has built a fleet of more than 80 very large crude carriers, with tens more on charter, making it the largest single operator of such ships globally. At least 70 of its ships have been involved in shuttle runs that move oil from Gulf producers through the strait to tankers waiting off Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman.
This trade has earned the company hundreds of millions of dollars as freight rates for transiting the strait have hit record highs. The PGSA, which is under US sanctions, maintains a list of more than 120 ships it considers "non-compliant" and therefore legitimate targets for missile and drone attacks. One Chinese-owned LPG tanker, Sea Soar, was struck by Iran in the north of the Gulf on Monday, days after it was added to that list.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing