Ship Traffic Through Hormuz Slows Amid Ongoing Iran-US Tensions
Commodity ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz hovered around single digits on Thursday, according to data from shiptracker Kpler. The tally stood at just seven vessels, a significant decline from the previous day's count. This comes amid ongoing concerns over risk to Middle East shipping as U.S.-Iran peace talks remain in limbo.
Of these seven ships, four entered and three exited the waterway, which was previously used by nearly a fifth of global shipments of crude oil and liquefied natural gas before war began in February. Notably, no very large crude carriers or liquefied gas tankers were among the vessels that passed through.
Meanwhile, at the Bab el-Mandeb strait, traffic slowed slightly on Thursday compared to the previous two days. A total of 23 commodity ships transited this waterway, down from 34 on each of the previous two days.