EMPIRE NAVIGATION INC.

A Chinese supertanker carrying two million barrels of Iraqi crude sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after being stranded in the Gulf for more than two months due to the U.S.-Iran war, LSEG and Kpler ship-tracking data showed.The VLCC Yuan Hua Hu is now anchored off the Gulf of Oman, near where the U.S. Navy has set up a blockade on Iranian vessels, LSEG data showed.The crossing comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to meet over the next two days, and after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi visited Beijing last week.The voyage marks the third known passage by a Chinese oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.

Anemoi Marine Technologies’ Rotor Sail wind-assisted propulsion system has completed more than eight years of continuous commercial operation after M/V Afros successfully passed its second intermediate dry dock survey.The survey, conducted by Lloyd’s Register in China in April, confirmed the structural integrity and operational condition of the vessel’s four Rotor Sails, Anemoi said.The 64,000-deadweight-tonne Ultramax bulk carrier Afros became the first bulk carrier fitted with Rotor Sails when the system was installed in 2018.

Both Iraq and Pakistan have cut deals with Iran to ship oil and liquefied natural gas from the Gulf, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter, in a demonstration of Tehran's ability to control energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has slashed energy exports from a region that normally supplies 20% of the world's crude oil and LNG. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports in recent weeks. And though Iran initially sought to halt traffic through the strait, that stance is now changing, said Claudio Steuer of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies."Iran has shifted from blocking Hormuz to controlling access to it ...

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Monday urged President Donald Trump to hold fast to trade remedies proposed by his administration to rebuild U.S. shipbuilding and not offer concessions when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Mark Kelly of Arizona as well as Republicans Tim Scott of South Carolina and Todd Young of Indiana told Trump in a letter sent on Monday that China's decades-long effort to "decimate American shipbuilding" demanded the use of U.S. trade measures to their fullest extent.

Two more tankers laden with crude exited the Strait of Hormuz last week with trackers switched off to avoid Iranian attacks, Kpler shipping data showed, underscoring a rising trend to sustain Middle East oil exports.The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Basrah Energy loaded 2 million barrels of Upper Zakum crude from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co's (ADNOC's) Zirku terminal on May 1 and exited the Strait of Hormuz on May 6, the data showed on Monday.The Panama-flagged vessel offloaded its cargo at the Fujairah Oil Tanker Terminals on May 8, according to the data.It was not immediately clear which company chartered the tanker owned and managed by shipper Sinokor.