The report says that the Chinese government has effectively banned refined fuel exports for the month of March “with immediate effect”. That as Beijing has ordered refiners to stop such exports for the month. All of this of course is to manage the situation back home, amid fears of domestic fuel shortages due to the situation in the Middle East.
As a reminder, the biggest losers from the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz are Asian countries. To be more specific, Asian countries that heavily rely on energy imports. Japan is one of them in that category, but also China.
The ban above is said to be issued by the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC). And it is said to also cover shipments of gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel.
Despite the safety that Trump claims over passage via the Strait of Hormuz, the situation on the ground is far from being safe. As things stand, no commercial vessels are willing to risk crossing the strait amid reports of more attacks on tankers in the past 24 hours.
It is speculated that the only ones brave enough to transit are “shadow fleets” with ties to Iran or certain sanctioned entities. These will be ones operating with AIS transponders turned off and are “safe” due to carrying Iranian cargo.
Otherwise, Kpler and AIS data shows that there is likely less than 10 vessels that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the last five days. That is a far cry from the normally 120 to 140 vessels transiting across that passage way on any normal day.
