Tanker Traffic Through Strait of Hormuz Hits Two-Month Low, Data Reveals
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Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to a single vessel on Thursday, marking its lowest point since May 7. According to vessel-tracking data, this decline comes amid heightened maritime security risks in the Middle East and a rebound in oil prices to $100 per barrel.
Kpler analytics indicated that only one tanker traversed the strait on July 23, down from three vessels the previous day. The sole ship to exit the waterway on Thursday was the New Giant, a supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude oil destined for Rizhao, China, where it is scheduled to arrive in mid-August. No tankers entered the strait on Thursday.
The drop in traffic coincided with an announcement from the U.S. military that it had carried out its 13th consecutive night of military strikes against Iran.
In contrast, shipping activity at the Bab el-Mandeb strait rose to 32 commodity tankers on July 23, up from 26 on the preceding day. Kpler data showed that 14 of these vessels entered the Red Sea, while 18 exited into the Gulf of Aden. Among the exiting vessels, nine were transporting crude oil, which included two Chinese supertankers heading to China.
Additionally, tracking data from Kpler and LSEG revealed that the clean product tanker Torm Innovation, carrying approximately 500,000 barrels of Asia-bound naphtha, altered its course toward the Suez Canal rather than taking its expected route through the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Industry sources noted that rerouting Asian-bound shipments through the Suez Canal instead of the Bab el-Mandeb can nearly triple the total transit time.
To bypass the risks of loading at Red Sea terminals, Saudi Aramco has begun offering extra crude oil volumes for loading at the Sidi Kerir terminal on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
