Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz plunged to a five-week low on Sunday, as escalating military tensions between the United States and Iran severely disrupted the world's most critical energy chokepoint.
According to ship-tracking data from Kpler, daily traffic dwindled to just six vessels. Among those navigating the waterway were three empty tankers entering the Gulf to load cargo, the VLCC Humanity exiting with two million barrels of Iranian crude, and the Capetan Andreas carrying 500,000 barrels of refined Kuwaiti petroleum. Notably, no liquefied natural gas carriers risked the transit over the weekend, reported Al Jazeera.
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The sharp decline follows fresh US precision strikes on Iranian targets. To mitigate the heightened security risks, most maritime operators are employing defensive countermeasures, primarily turning off their Automatic Identification System transponders to avoid detection, according to Reuters.
Uncertainty over the waterway's legal status has been compounded by conflicting rhetoric and direct maritime interventions. While US President Donald Trump insisted on Sunday that the strait remains open to commercial shipping, Tehran claimed it had closed the corridor after a vessel allegedly used an unapproved route. Fulfilling that threat, Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced on Monday that they had intercepted two unidentified vessels the previous night by disabling their systems.
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The escalating friction underscores the growing peril for global maritime operators. As a vital artery for global energy supplies, prolonged disruptions and rising security risks in the Strait of Hormuz threaten to trigger a sharp spike in shipping costs and spark renewed volatility across international oil markets.
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