Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falls to lowest level in more than two months — The National
The number of commercial vessels that passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday fell to seven — the lowest figure since July 23. The number of attacks on tankers in this key waterway last week reached its highest level since the start of the war in Iran, The National reports, citing data from shipping analytics company Kpler.
Oil flows through the strait
The volume of crude oil crossing the strait declined by 27% from its wartime peak over the week, to at least 10.1 million barrels per day. This corresponds to the September average and amounts to 74% of the pre-war level, Kpler analysts Emmanuel Belostrino and Yui Torikata said.
Ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman saw the sharpest decline. At the same time, exports from the Gulf of Oman coast and through the Red Sea rose to 6.7 million barrels per day — more than twice the pre-war level. According to analysts, this offset the drop in supplies through the Strait of Hormuz and kept total Middle Eastern oil exports near their pre-war level.
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Vessel movements and tanker incident
On Wednesday, the number of commercial vessels in the strait increased slightly to 10, but this was significantly lower than more than 20 vessels per day on Sunday and Monday. Over the past two days, more vessels entered the strait than exited it. Kpler data do not include ships with their Automatic Identification System transponders switched off.
According to LSEG, eight vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday — evenly split between both directions — compared with 14 the previous day. They included five oil tankers and the gas carrier Al Mafyar, which loaded in Qatar's Ras Laffan and was bound for Pakistan's Port Qasim.
In the latest reported incident, projectiles struck a tanker 51 nautical miles north of the Qatari city of Madinat ash Shamal. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported casualties. Before the war in Iran began on February 28, about 125 large commercial vessels passed through the strait daily, and their cargo accounted for one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
