Hormuz Traffic Dwindles as US-Iran Tensions Persist

A trickle of vessels has made its way through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, down from the usual number before the US-Israeli war with Iran began. Typically, about 125 large commercial vessels per day transit the strait, but visible traffic has dwindled to a fraction of that number. According to provisional data from analytics firm Kpler, only a dozen commodity vessels passed through the strait over the weekend, down from 35 the prior weekend.

The US and Iran remain in stalemate, with tensions persisting in the Gulf. Despite this, Middle Eastern producers continue to export oil on tankers traveling with their transponders off. Among trackable ships, four vessels exited the strait on Sunday, while two small-sized oil tankers entered the Gulf, Kpler data showed.

The attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Aramco's East-West pipeline have prompted the state energy firm to increase exports through the Strait of Hormuz this month and next. This has enabled exports from the OPEC kingpin to recover to over 4 million barrels per day in September, after slumping to 2.4 million bpd in August.

JPMorgan analysts noted that Middle East oil flows remain surprisingly strong despite the disruption to Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline. They added that the total oil flows averaged 17.1 million bpd over the past 10 days, just 6.1 million bpd below the 2025 average.