Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply as the Middle East conflict continues, with 17 commodity vessels crossing.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply as the conflict in the Middle East continues, with only 17 commodity vessels crossing the strategic waterway over the weekend.
The figure was down from 37 vessels the previous weekend, according to shipping data, as the United States and Iran remained in a stalemate.
The Strait of Hormuz, which handled about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the conflict, has seen traffic fall to a trickle. However, Middle Eastern producers continue to transport oil by tanker, with some vessels switching off their transponders.
Provisional data from analytics firm Kpler showed that five trackable vessels exited the strait on Sunday, while two smaller oil tankers entered the Gulf as of 0706 GMT.
Among the vessels leaving was the very large crude carrier Pinios, along with two tankers carrying refined petroleum products and two empty carriers for bulk goods and gas.
The Pinios was transferring about two million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on Monday to another very large crude carrier, the New Constant, which is expected to sail to China.
On Saturday, eight vessels left the Gulf carrying crude oil, agricultural and petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and fertiliser. A very large gas carrier and a VLCC also entered the Gulf.
The Shandong Redwood LNG tanker, carrying cargo loaded at Qatar’s Ras Laffan port, left the Strait of Hormuz on September 19 and was heading towards Pakistan.
Before the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels each day, including tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and container ships.
The conflict has also affected alternative routes for regional oil exports. Attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Aramco’s East-West pipeline have prompted the Saudi state energy company to increase exports through the Strait of Hormuz this month and next.
Kpler data showed that 22 tankers, mostly VLCCs, carrying 42 million barrels of crude exited the strait during the week of September 13. Saudi Arabia and Iraq each accounted for 43% of the volume.
Traffic has also declined at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
A total of 51 vessels crossed the waterway, with 33 leaving over the weekend, including an Aframax-sized tanker carrying about 700,000 barrels of Saudi crude. This compared with 57 vessels during the previous weekend.
There have been no visible oil loadings from Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port on the Red Sea since September 16.
