Chinese Supertanker Transits Strait of Hormuz with Two Million Barrels of Iraqi Crude

A supertanker named Yuan Hua Hu that is registered to China’s state-owned COSCO shipping company appears to have safely transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, carrying an estimated two million barrels of Iraqi crude oil.

The Yuan Hua Hu is classified as a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), which means it could carry at least two million barrels of oil. Some ships in the VLCC class can transport over seven million barrels. They are among the largest ships in the world, typically over 300 meters in length – so large that they cannot berth at conventional docks but instead accept and discharge their cargoes through pipe islands that extend into deep water.

Such huge and slow-moving ships are easy targets for terrorists and pirates, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran, which has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz by attacking civilian ships that attempt to