First oil tanker to pass through Strait of Hormuz since outbreak of Iran war to arrive in May in International Shipping News 21/04/2026 An oil tanker carrying 1 million barrels of crude oil is expected to arrive in Korea early next month after passing through the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first shipment to the country by an oil tanker passing through Hormuz since the outbreak of the Iran war. According to Reuters and industry sources on Monday, the Malta-flagged crude carrier Odessa is en route to Daesan Port in South Chungcheong after transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The ship-tracking service VesselFinder also showed the tanker sailing off the coast of India that day. The Odessa is a Suezmax-class tanker capable of carrying 120,000 to 200,000 tons deadweight. The crude onboard is expected to be unloaded at HD Hyundai Oilbank’s refinery near Daesan Port. The cargo was loaded in the United Arab Emirates and is part of the company’s existing contract volumes. An HD Hyundai Oilbank representative said it was “difficult to confirm the vessel’s route or detailed schedule.” Industry sources explained that the crude was not procured by sending a vessel directly from Korea but through a crude trading company. In such arrangements, the trader both sources the oil and handles transportation using its own vessel, with the refinery taking the delivery at the destination port. In the case of the Odessa, the shipment reportedly proceeded after the trading firm factored in higher insurance costs associated with risks from the Strait of Hormuz blockade, which the refinery agreed to bear. Tehran maintained a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. It announced a reopening on Friday before reimposing the blockade the following afternoon. The Odessa reportedly passed through the strait just before the renewed closure. Source: Korea JoongAng Daily 2026-04-21 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share