Hormuz Traffic Falls to Five-Week Low

The number of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a five-week low on Sunday as renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran and attacks on ships in the Middle East heightened safety concerns, according to Kpler data.

Only six vessels transited the strait. The supertanker Humanity, carrying two million barrels of Iranian oil, and the Capetan Andreas, carrying about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products, left the Gulf, while three empty tankers entered to load oil. Most switched off their transponders while crossing the strait.

No liquefied natural gas tankers were recorded entering the strait over the weekend.

US forces carried out another wave of precision strikes against dozens of targets in Iran on Sunday. President Donald Trump later said the Strait of Hormuz remained open to commercial traffic, although Iran had earlier declared it closed after a vessel traveling on an unauthorized route was struck.

(Reuters, bak)