A Pakistan-flagged Aframax tanker, Shalamar, has successfully transited out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first known crude cargo exit since the U.S. blockade began earlier this week.
The vessel carried around 450,000 barrels of crude loaded at Das Island in the United Arab Emirates and exited into the Gulf of Oman late Thursday. It is currently bound for Karachi, according to AIS tracking data.
The crossing comes amid severely reduced traffic through the chokepoint, with only a handful of vessels moving through the Strait in recent weeks. Shipping flows have been disrupted by ongoing military tensions and the introduction of U.S. naval enforcement measures targeting Iranian-linked trade.
According to vessel tracking data, Shalamar initially attempted to enter the Strait over the weekend but briefly turned back before completing the passage later the same day. Its eventual exit is now being viewed as an outlier in an increasingly constrained operating environment.
U.S. Central Command has stated that multiple vessels have been instructed to turn back since the blockade began, with compliance and rerouting becoming a dominant feature of current traffic patterns in the region.
The broader situation in Hormuz remains highly unstable, with shipowners facing heightened uncertainty over clearance procedures, routing permissions, and military presence in and around the Strait.
