By Timothy Gardner and Jonathan Saul
BOSTON, May 5 (Reuters) – The CS Anthem chemical tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, its operator said on Tuesday, becoming the second commercial U.S.-flagged vessel known to do so while protected by the U.S. military.
Maersk said on Monday that the Alliance Fairfax, a U.S.-flagged vehicle carrier operated by its Farrell Lines subsidiary, had exited the Gulf via the strait.
Crowley-Stena Marine Solutions, which operates the CS Anthem, said in a statement: “The Crowley-managed vessel, CS Anthem, has safely completed its transit through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Three other U.S.-flagged ships that have been stuck in the region after the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran began on February 28 remain in the Gulf, three sources said. One of those is the products tanker Stena Imperative, which was hit by two unknown projectiles in the port of Bahrain in early March, causing a fire on board. It is now in dry dock in the Gulf, they said.
U.S. forces are helping to restore commercial shipping through the strait, CENTCOM said on X on Monday. CENTCOM said that U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are operating in the Gulf under a directive called “Project Freedom.”
NBC News, citing two unidentified U.S. officials, reported the two ships had U.S. military security teams aboard when Iran launched attacks against them during their Strait of Hormuz transits on Monday. Representatives from Maersk and Crowley did not immediately comment on that report.
Some 20% of the world’s oil passed through the strait before its virtual closure by Iran and a blockade of Iranian ports by the U.S.
The CS Anthem and the Alliance Fairfax were among hundreds of ships stranded in the Gulf with the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz in early March.
Maersk said the transit of the Alliance Fairfax was completed without incident and that all crew were safe and unharmed. The sources said the CS Anthem had changed the original crew weeks ago and the exit occurred without incident.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Boston and Jonathan Saul in London; Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Franklin Paul, Mark Porter, Rod Nickel)
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