London. April 18 (SANA) Shipping industry figures gave a cautious welcome Friday to Iran’s announcement that it was reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz trade route to commercial freight after nearly seven weeks closed.
A spokesman for German transportation giant Hapag-Lloyd, which has ships stuck in the Gulf, told AFP by phone that the reopening was “in general… good news”.
But he cautioned that shippers still needed details of what route vessels could take and in what order, citing fears of sea mines.
“One thousand ships cannot just go now to the entrance of the strait, that will be chaos. They (the Iranians) need to give clear orders,” said the spokesman, Nils Haupt.
“We would be ready to go very soon if some of these open questions can be solved within the weekend.”
Bloomberg data indicated there were about 770 vessels used for carrying commodities sending transponder signals inside the Gulf on Thursday, of which about 360 were oil and gas carriers.
Before the war, average daily crossings of the strait overall numbered about 120, according to industry journal Lloyd’s List.
IZ/MZ
