Sinokor

Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which issues Hormuz transit permits, warned on 27 October 2026 that "legal action will be taken against all vessels" of Sinokor from 1 November. It addressed the notice to cargo owners, stakeholders and insurers, not crews, and said enforcement had already been taken against at least seven of them, without saying what. Maritime Executive reported it was the first time the authority had singled out one company. Sinokor ships carried nearly 40% of September's Hormuz crude, Bloomberg reported, and 47% of Very Large Crude Carrier transits by count, according to Lloyd's List data reported by SBS. The Korea Shipowners' Association said the listed ships were sub-chartered to an overseas oil company, carried no South Korean crew, and that Sinokor was checking the details.

The Seoul group runs container lines and one of the largest supertanker fleets, much of it on Charter: it charters ships from other owners and sub-charters them on. On 1 September 2026 unidentified projectiles struck the Sinokor-operated Senegal Prosperity as it left the strait near Khasab, Oman, with its transponder off. Nobody claimed the attack.

That Charter structure now decides who carries the risk. Underwriters, not Sinokor alone, must judge whose ships the notice covers.