Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed sharply over the weekend following attacks on tankers, as stalled talks between the United States and Iran added to uncertainty around one of the world’s most important energy routes.
Ship-tracking data from Kpler showed just five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, while none were registered on Sunday. That compares with 31 vessels recorded during the previous weekend.
Among the ships entering the strait on Saturday was an empty Very Large Crude Carrier whose Automatic Identification System was switched off, as well as an Indian-flagged Very Large Gas Carrier that travelled through the Iranian route, according to Kpler.
A small tanker carrying Iranian fuel oil was also tracked exiting the waterway.
The slowdown followed attacks last week on three vessels operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company while they were in transit, according to the United Arab Emirates.
The United States has meanwhile said it could maintain its naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, further increasing pressure on commercial shipping in the region.
Some vessels may still be passing through Hormuz without being detected because their transponders are switched off. Even so, recorded traffic remains dramatically below pre-war levels, when more than 130 ships crossed the strait each day.
The decline comes amid continued deadlock between Washington and Tehran over efforts to resolve the conflict that began after the United States and Israel launched war against Iran in February.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday that Washington would have to meet Tehran’s conditions regarding the Strait of Hormuz before normal shipping could resume.
Before the war, the waterway carried roughly one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, making any prolonged disruption a major concern for international energy markets.
Traffic has also fallen at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another key maritime chokepoint. Kpler recorded 49 commodity-vessel transits over the weekend, down from 55 the previous weekend.
Yemen’s Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20. No Saudi oil shipments were detected passing through Bab el-Mandeb during the latest weekend, according to Kpler data.
