Hormuz Shipping Traffic Remains Below 10-Day Average, Data Shows
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**Gulf Maritime Traffic Through Strait of Hormuz Remains Well Below Average, Data Shows**
According to preliminary shipping data from Kpler, maritime traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz remains severely depressed. Only four commodity vessels transited the strategic waterway on Thursday, representing a sharp decline from the nine transits recorded the previous day. This figure sits far below the 10-day average of approximately 15 vessels.
The transits recorded by 0455 GMT on Friday consisted of two medium-range tankers, one Kamsarmax carrier, and one Handysize vessel. This tally does not account for ships that may have deactivated their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders to bypass detection.
The drop in shipping activity comes amid rising regional tensions and renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran, which have pushed oil prices toward their sharpest weekly increase since mid-July. Concerns over Middle East supply disruptions remain high, with Kpler data indicating that only two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) have crossed the strait so far this week.
Prior to the outbreak of the Iran conflict on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz saw an average of 125 large commercial vessels daily—including tankers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, bulkers, and container ships. This traffic accounted for roughly 20% of the world’s daily crude oil and LNG supplies. However, Iranian crude exports have been completely halted since mid-July due to a U.S.-imposed blockade on Iran-affiliated shipping.
During an energy summit in Singapore, Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy, noted that daily observed oil and petroleum product exit volumes have fluctuated primarily between 4 million and 6 million barrels. The only exception was a brief recovery toward pre-war levels during a short-lived interim agreement between Washington and Tehran.
“There is little that the United States and Iran currently agree on,” Galimberti stated, adding that maritime flows are expected to remain severely restricted until November due to the ongoing economic toll of the conflict.
Meanwhile, shipping activity at the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea also experienced a slowdown. Kpler data showed 22 commodity vessels transited the waterway on Thursday, down from 31 the prior day and below the 10-day average of 24.
