Mucahithan Avcioglu
13 May 2026•Update: 13 May 2026
Several cargo and tanker vessels linked to China navigated the Strait of Hormuz through Iran’s “safe” shipping corridor in the last 24 hours, shipping tracker data showed Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump visits China for talks expected to focus partly on the Iran war and the reopening of the key energy route.
Data from the ship tracking platform MarineTraffic showed the China-flagged crude oil tanker Yuan Hua Hu was sailing through the strait earlier Wednesday, south of Iran’s Larak Island.
The vessel’s Automatic Identification System, or AIS, which broadcasts a ship’s position, origin and destination, listed its destination as “Chinese owner and crew,” according to the report.
The Yuan Hua Hu is owned by China COSCO Shipping Corporation, which is based in Shanghai.
The route followed by the vessel was part of a passage Iran has described as a “safe” and “permit-based” shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints for oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
At least four China-linked vessels followed the same corridor from Tuesday into Wednesday, according to the analysis.
The Starway, an oil and chemical tanker, traveled through the strait Tuesday from Omani waters toward waters north of the United Arab Emirates. Deepblue, also a tanker and reportedly owned by a Shanghai-based company, sailed in the opposite direction from west to east.
The Xian Jiang Kou, a vehicle carrier that left Saudi Arabia on March 16 and had remained in the Persian Gulf until Tuesday, also transited the strait, using Iranian shipping lanes south of Larak Island. Its AIS destination was listed as “Chinese vsl and crew.”
The vessel’s movements came as Trump traveled to China for a state visit that had been delayed by six weeks due to the US and Israeli war against Iran.
During talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump is expected to seek greater support from Beijing, which maintains close ties with Tehran, in efforts to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to broader commercial traffic.
The strait has remained effectively closed to most vessels since the start of the Iran war, severely disrupting global energy and cargo flows. Few ships have passed through the shipping channel in recent weeks, with Iran allowing limited transit under its permit-based corridor system.
