A South Korean oil tanker is moored at a pier of refiner GS Caltex Corp. in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, 08 May 2026. The tanker, loaded with 2 million barrels of crude oil, left the Saudi port of Yanbu in mid-April and exited via an alternative route on the Red Sea, marking the first shipment of crude oil to the nation since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amid the prolonged war in the Middle East. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
May 23 (Asia Today) -- A South Korean oil tanker is continuing crude oil transport through the Red Sea as an alternate route after the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the Middle East war, officials said Saturday.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said one domestic tanker had safely passed through the Red Sea and was sailing toward South Korea as of 4 p.m. The ship reportedly loaded crude oil at Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port.
It was the fifth Red Sea transit by a South Korean tanker since the Hormuz closure.
South Korean tankers began using the Red Sea route in mid-April after the Strait of Hormuz was blocked. The first tanker to use the alternate route arrived May 7 at GS Caltex's crude oil pier in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province.
