Japan Trade Chief Says Hormuz Off-Limits As Hostilities Reignite

By Michael Kern of OilPrice.com

Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is once again off-limits in the near term as the renewed hostilities and threats to vessels led to another spike in risks of transiting the key tanker and container shipping lane, according to Masahiro Okafuji, chair of the Japan Foreign Trade Council.

“No one would go there, because it’s dangerous,” Okafuji told a media conference on Wednesday, as carried by Bloomberg.

Renewed re-routing of the shipping lanes around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa’s southern tip would hike transportation costs by over 30%, according to Okafuji, who is also chief executive at major Japanese trading house Itochu Corporation.

Following the re-escalation in regional hostilities in recent days, the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) reaffirmed on Tuesday its regional threat level for the Strait of Hormuz at “severe”, which it had raised last week after the first signs emerged of the collapse of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

“The regional maritime security threat level remains SEVERE with further deliberate hostile activity likely under current conditions,” JMIC READ MORE AT SOURCE »