US-Iran peace deal: Shipowners, traders cautious about opening of Hormuz; await more details

US-Iran peace deal: Shipowners and traders have met the announcement of the US-Iran peace deal that President Donald Trump said will be signed in Switzerland on Friday and reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days with caution. Industry participants said they needed more details before deciding whether safe transits are possible through the waterway after months of failed arrangements and repeated attacks.

The strait, a vital route for global oil and gas and used to move one-fifth of global oil supplies, has been central to the 107-day conflict. Iran's control over the passage and a US naval blockade on Iranian ports have severely disrupted the energy trade, cutting off some of the world's biggest producers and forcing even major players to use dark transits. Though Trump said the agreement would reopen the strait on Friday, shipowners, crews and traders said the practical and security situation remained unclear, according to a report in Bloomberg.

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With limited information available, there was little activity in the strait in the early hours of Monday, apart from one liquefied natural gas tanker, Disha, heading towards Hormuz. As per the report that cited Kpler, nearly 600 vessels remain stuck in the Persian Gulf and ready to leave, while hundreds of empty ships are also waiting on the other side. The total may change as more ships that turned off their transponders are added to the count.

Even if the reopening releases millions of barrels of oil in theory, shipowners still face operational problems, including the need to remove barnacles from hulls and competition to move through a narrow corridor. Tankers make up most of the ships stranded inside the Persian Gulf, reflecting the value of their cargoes during the war. Kpler data show 98 crude tankers remain stuck inside, while 88 carriers lifting dirty petroleum products are also waiting.

Previous deals in recent months ended with Iranian forces firing at ships or seizing vessels, and uncertainty over mines in the strait has made routing and insurance critical. 

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Some oil producers have gradually found ways to send tankers through, sometimes with US support, but crossings have remained at a fraction of pre-war levels, when an average of 135 tankers crossed daily, the report stated. Laden vessels are likely to be the first to move out, while empty ships already in the Gulf may begin loading over the coming days. 

There are more than 300 empty vessels in the Gulf of Oman that could transit Hormuz and enter the Persian Gulf once access is restored. 

Trump announced the deal on Truth Social on Sunday evening, saying the agreement with Iran was complete and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen after the signing on Friday. He wrote that he had fully authorised the toll-free opening of the strait and the immediate removal of the United States naval blockade. In another post, he urged ships to start moving and let the oil flow.