Since the start of the war in the Middle East, several ships have openly claimed to be linked to China while sailing or anchored in the Persian Gulf region, according to data from the online maritime traffic platform "Marine Traffic". At least two of them did so while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
These signals are "obviously precautionary measures used by ships to reduce the risk of being attacked while passing through the most dangerous area of the Strait of Hormuz“, said Ana Subasic of the company Kpler, which analyzes data on maritime traffic around the world. "This does not necessarily mean a direct connection to China," she added.
An automatic vessel identification system, similar to the transponder on an airplane, allows ships to broadcast information that identifies them to other ships and makes their position and destination clear. These signals are collected, among others, by the "Marine Traffic" platform.
Since last Monday, about 30 ships have broadcast messages through their systems such as: "Chinese crew", "Chinese owner", "Chinese crew on board", instead of indicating their destination.
The ships "Iron Maiden", registered in the Marshall Islands, and "Blue Ocean", registered in Liberia, are two particularly telling examples - they announced a connection with China before passing through the Strait of Hormuz and removed this message after leaving the strait.
At least two ships have broadcast messages that they have a Turkish crew and owner, and others - shortly after the war began - have simply identified themselves as “Muslim“.
Since last Monday, more than 20 commercial ships have been detected passing through the Strait of Hormuz after the first attacks on vessels, according to an Agence France-Presse analysis of "Marine Traffic".
Some ships have passed through this strategic route for world trade, turning off their transponders to hide their position.
Following the Israeli-American strikes on Iran, which began on February 28, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have effectively blocked traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
Under normal conditions, 138 ships pass through the strait in 24 hours, through which about 20% of the world's oil and about 20% of liquefied natural gas usually transit.