A 2 Million Barrel COSCO Supertanker Just Cleared Hormuz And The Gulf Of Oman. Iran Waived The $2 Million Toll The Day Trump Landed In Beijing.
Yuan Hua Hu Cleared Hormuz Wednesday. Trump-Xi Summit Thursday Agreed Hormuz “Must Remain Open.” A Ship Was Seized Off Fujairah The Same Day.
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A Chinese supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday May 13, 2026, the same day President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for a 48-hour summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, per Bloomberg and Lloyd’s List Intelligence. The vessel, Yuan Hua Hu, is owned and operated by the Hainan unit of COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation, the tanker arm of state-owned China COSCO Shipping Corporation, per Reuters and Equasis. A China COSCO Shipping official told The Wall Street Journal that the firm did not pay Iran’s standard $2 million transit toll. The official told WSJ the firm viewed the free passage as a gesture from Tehran timed to Trump’s summit with Xi. As of Thursday May 14, the vessel has exited the Gulf of Oman and is now sailing through the Arabian Sea bound for China’s Zhoushan port, per MarineTraffic tracking data cited by Daily Caller News Foundation. The US Navy did not intercept the vessel, consistent with the April 12 CENTCOM press release that the blockade applies only to vessels “entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.”
By Gosships analysis, the Yuan Hua Hu transit and the Trump-Xi Thursday summit together establish the structural shipping setup for the rest of 2026. The Wednesday transit demonstrated Iran’s operational permit-based corridor and forced public positions from both leaders within 24 hours. The Thursday summit readout publicly committed Beijing to opposing Iran’s toll system. The same Thursday, a Honduras-flagged vessel was seized off Fujairah by “unauthorised personnel” and redirected to Iranian waters, per UKMTO Warning 057/26. Iran’s behavior did not change. The gap between Beijing’s stated position, Iran’s continued vessel seizures, and the operational reality of Chinese state-owned tankers accepting Iran’s toll waivers is now the structural question for tanker insurance, charter rates, sanctions compliance, and the trapped global tanker fleet. Charter rates for non-Chinese VLCCs are likely to stay elevated because the addressable supply of vessels willing to transit Iran’s corridor without flag protection is structurally smaller than the nominal global VLCC fleet.
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→ Vessel: Yuan Hua Hu, VLCC, Hainan Unit Of COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation Per Reuters
→ Cargo: 2 Million Barrels Iraqi Basrah Medium Crude Per Bloomberg
→ Charter: Unipec, Trading Arm Of Sinopec Per Bloomberg
→ Deadweight Tonnage: Over 300,000 Tons Per COSCO Website
→ Loaded At: Basrah Terminal Iraq Early March 2026 Per LSEG
→ Transit Date: Wednesday May 13, 2026 Per LLI
→ Route: Iran’s IRGC-Controlled Larak Corridor Per WSJ
→ Iran Toll Waived: $2 Million Standard Fee Per WSJ
→ Current Position: Arabian Sea Bound For Zhoushan Per MarineTraffic
→ Expected Zhoushan Arrival: June 1 Per investingLive
→ Trump Beijing Summit: Wednesday May 13 Through Friday May 15 Per Al Jazeera
→ Trump-Xi Summit Thursday: Agreed Strait Must Remain Open Per White House Via CBS News
→ Hui Chuan Seized Off Fujairah Thursday Per UKMTO Warning 057/26
→ Indian Livestock Carrier Sunk Off Limah Oman Wednesday Per UKMTO Warning 058/26
→ 30 Chinese Vessels Granted Safe Passage Per Iranian State Media
🛢️ The Story
The Yuan Hua Hu cleared the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday May 13, 2026, exiting the largely-closed waterway after spending more than two months stranded in the Persian Gulf, per LSEG, Kpler, and Lloyd’s List Intelligence ship-tracking data confirmed by Bloomberg, Reuters, and Jerusalem Post. The vessel is a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) owned and operated by the Hainan unit of COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation, the tanker subsidiary of state-owned China COSCO Shipping Corporation, per Reuters and Equasis ship database records. The COSCO website lists the deadweight tonnage of the vessel at over 300,000 tons per Daily Caller News Foundation. VLCC class vessels are typically over 300 meters in length per Breitbart. The supertanker was carrying close to its full capacity of 2 million barrels of Basrah Medium crude oil loaded at Iraq’s Basrah terminal in early March 2026, per LSEG tracking data cited by Reuters.
The vessel was chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state refining giant Sinopec, per a fixture seen by Bloomberg. Yuan Hua Hu’s transit through the strait went through the Iranian-controlled Larak Island corridor, the northern route through the strait that is overseen by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), per WSJ via Lloyd’s List Intelligence. According to ship-tracking analysis cited by ZeroHedge quoting WSJ, the vessel exhibited a specific AIS transponder sequence during transit: visible from a Dubai anchorage, then switched off transponder while approaching Larak, then briefly came back online for a couple of hours, then went dark again. The vessel emerged on the eastern side of the strait, anchored briefly off the coast of Oman, and as of Thursday May 14 has exited the Gulf of Oman and is now sailing through the Arabian Sea bound for China’s Zhoushan port, per MarineTraffic tracking data cited by Daily Caller News Foundation. CBS News reported Thursday that the vessel “has not yet made it past the U.S. Navy presence off the coast of Oman but is moving along quickly toward China.” Per Kpler ship-tracking data cited by Reuters, the vessel is heading to Zhoushan with expected arrival June 1 per investingLive.
The most consequential reporting comes from the Wall Street Journal. A China COSCO Shipping official confirmed to WSJ that Iran’s standard $2 million transit toll was waived for the Yuan Hua Hu, per WSJ via Daily Caller and ZeroHedge.
