The supertanker Yuan Hua Hu, registered to China's state-owned COSCO, slipped through the Strait of Hormuz in the early hours of Wednesday and was anchored off the Omani coast by the time Trump's Air Force One was on final approach to Beijing. Tracking data from MarineTraffic and Kpler showed the vessel transiting south of Iran's Larak Island, inside the permit corridor Tehran has operated since February to keep allied tonnage moving while the rest of the strait sits under partial US blockade.
The ship was carrying roughly two million barrels of Iraqi crude, chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec. As it transited, its AIS transponder broadcast the message "CHINESE VESSEL AND CREW" — a signal designed to deter any inspection by US Navy units operating in the area.
The passage marked only the third confirmed transit by a Chinese-flagged tanker since the strikes on Iran began on February 28, and it was the largest. Bloomberg and shipping analysts at Vortexa tracked at least four further China-linked vessels using the same corridor between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Iran did not charge a toll, according to shipping sources, though officials in Tehran have publicly mused about doing so. China's foreign ministry said Beijing "expects normal commercial passage" through Hormuz and welcomed Trump's remarks in Beijing that the strait must remain open.
The US Navy's Fifth Fleet did not intercept the Yuan Hua Hu and has indicated since April that it would not interfere with Chinese state vessels using the Iranian corridor, in what amounts to an unwritten carve-out alongside the broader blockade. Officials in Washington describe the practice as "operational realism" rather than policy.
Roughly a fifth of global oil supply moved through Hormuz before the war, and the corridor's partial reopening is the single most-watched signal for energy markets. Brent crude eased $3 a barrel on the day, settling near $107.80, on early indications that Chinese flows are restoring at least a partial throughput.