Here is the strange part. Oil from the Persian Gulf is getting out again. Exports have climbed back toward pre-war levels. Yet the world is running short of oil tankers. The reason is a workaround called a ship-to-ship transfer, and it is quietly eating the global tanker fleet.
How the workaround works
Since the Iran war began in February, crossing the Strait of Hormuz has been risky. So Gulf producers stopped sending one big tanker all the way from their terminal to Asia.
Instead, a “shuttle” tanker loads crude inside the Gulf, makes the short dash through the strait, and parks off the coast of Oman or the UAE. There it pumps its cargo into a second, waiting tanker. That is the ship-to-ship transfer. The second ship sails to Asia. The shuttle turns around and goes back for more.
Abu Dhabi’s national oil company started the system in April. Others copied it. Data firm Kpler expected about 2.5 million barrels a day to move this way in September, up from 1.4 million in August, roughly 40% of the oil now passing Hormuz. Before the war, almost none did.
It works. But look at what it costs in ships. One cargo now needs two tankers instead of one, and every trip gets longer. The oil is flowing. The ships are stuck in a loop.
Two ships per cargo means record freight
When half the fleet is busy shuttling, the other half gets expensive. This month, chartering a supertanker to carry 2 million barrels from the US Gulf Coast to China in November hit $80 million, Reuters reported, citing broker data. That works out to about $40 a barrel just for the ride, against under $9 before the war. Asian refiners are now passing on US crude and buying closer to home.
The ships themselves got pricier too. Normally a used tanker sells for less than a new one. Not now. A 2026-built supertanker called Pinios reportedly sold for close to $200 million because it was ready to sail immediately, while ordering a new one cost around $131 million, according to Clarksons data. Shipbroker Braemar says even 10-year-old supertankers are now worth more than new builds, a first in its records. A ship you can use today beats a better ship you get in 2029.
Where Korea sits
Korea is on both sides of this market.
On the owning side, Korean shipowner Sinokor saw the shortage coming. Early in 2026 it bought 35 of the 45 supertankers sold secondhand worldwide, and it is now the largest commercial operator of these ships. Sinokor’s name also came up when I wrote about a tanker attack near Hormuz earlier in the war.
On the building side, the new orders mostly went elsewhere. Chinese shipyards took 82% of crude tanker capacity ordered in the first half, according to BIMCO. Korean yards hold about a quarter of the crude tanker order book, mostly the smaller Suezmax size, while they stay busy with LNG carriers.
What to watch
The ship-to-ship transfer system exists because Hormuz is dangerous. If the strait truly reopens, shuttles are no longer needed, and two ships per cargo becomes one again. Overnight, the market would have more tankers than it needs.
That is the risk inside today’s record prices. Buyers paying $200 million for a ready ship are betting the loop lasts. Rates that rise because of a workaround can fall just as fast when the workaround ends.
My take: The oil got out. The ships didn’t come back.
Not advice. Just how I see it.