By Nerijus Adomaitis and Dominique Vidalon
PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) – A container ship belonging to French shipping group CMA CGM has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, MarineTraffic vessel tracking data shows, in a sign that Iran may not consider France a hostile nation.
The Malta-flagged Kribi, owned by CMA CGM, crossed the Strait on April 2. It is the first French-owned vessel to make it through the channel since U.S.-Israeli attacks began on Iran at the end of February.
Until the war led to the effective closure of the Strait, it was the route for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
It was not immediately clear how the vessel, which the data shows is sailing south along the coast of Oman, secured safe passage. CMA CGM did not respond to a request for comment. President Emmanuel Macron’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether his government had brokered the ships’ passage.
FRANCE HAS FOUND FAVOUR WITH IRAN?
The vessel passed through on Thursday, the day that Macron said it would be unrealistic to launch a military operation to open the Strait, and that only diplomatic efforts would work.
“This Strait must be reopened because it is strategic for energy flows, fertilisers and international trade, but it can only be done in consultation with Iran,” he said.
Macron has worked with European and other allies to build a coalition to guarantee free passage through Hormuz once hostilities have stopped.
French diplomats have also spent the last week working to soften a resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would have enabled forceful action in the Strait of Hormuz.
VESSEL CHANGES TO ‘OWNER FRANCE’
LSEG shipping data showed that on Thursday the vessel changed its Automatic Identification System destination to “Owner France” before entering Iran’s territorial waters in the Strait, signalling to Iranian authorities the nationality of its owner.
Ships have previously used similar tactics to assert neutrality when transiting conflict zones. Several Chinese vessels that have passed through the Strait also set their destinations to “Chinese owner & crew”.
The ship had originally been bound for Pointe-Noire in the Republic of the Congo.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, John Irish and Michael Rose in Paris and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, Writing by Gabriel Stargardter, editing by Inti Landauro and Barbara Lewis)
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