International Maritime over, Niels Rasmussen, chief shipping analyst at Bimco, said in an April 14 market update.
“ Even if the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, it may take a long time for crude oil and other energy shipments to return to previous volumes,” Rasmussen said.
Scrubbers offer flexibility
The greater availability of HSFO, at least for now, provides an advantage to vessels equipped with scrubbers, according to Paolo Montrone, senior vice president and head of global trades at Kuehne + Nagel.
Montrone told the Journal of Commerce he thought that, should there be shortages, HSFO will likely be available in larger as well as smaller ports.“ Ships with scrubbers will have an advantage in terms of flexibility, not necessarily just over-availability of supply or cost, but purely on where you can actually bunker,” he said.
Jan Tiedemann, senior analyst for liner shipping and ports at Alphaliner, agreed that flexibility was key, with some LNG and methanol dual-fuel vessels even equipped with scrubbers. For instance, Mediterranean Shipping Co. retrofitted scrubbers on 35-year-old ships and also had scrubbers fitted on brand new LNG vessels, he noted.
A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd said fuel type was just one of many factors in how the carrier deploys its ships.“ Scrubber-equipped vessels do provide some additional flexibility,” he told the Journal of Commerce.“ But any changes in deployment would be made very carefully and based on overall network requirements, not just on fuel availability.”
“ Even if the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, it may take a long time for crude oil shipments to return to previous volumes.”
The industry welcomed a two-week ceasefire agreed to between the US and Iran in early April, but peace talks between the two parties in Islamabad on April 11 – 12 collapsed after less than 24 hours. Tensions over oil exports from the Persian Gulf escalated after the US launched a counter-blockade in the Strait of Hormuz to force Iran to abandon its blockade and allow toll-free shipping to resume through the waterway.
Various fuel types are unevenly distributed at key bunkering hubs in Asia. Andrii Sharpilo / Getty Images www. joc. com May 4, 2026 | Journal of Commerce 13