Strait of Hormuz shipping drops to 12 vessels

Shafaq News- Hormuz (Updated at 9:34)

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply, with just 12 commodity vessels crossing the waterway, ship-tracking firm Kpler said on Monday.

Preliminary vessel-tracking data put maritime activity well below the 35 vessels recorded a week earlier, as tensions between the United States and Iran remain unresolved.

Four trackable vessels —two carrying refined oil products and two empty bulk and gas carriers— left the gateway on Sunday, while two small oil tankers entered the Gulf.

Five vessels carrying agricultural products, liquefied petroleum gas and fertilizer left the Gulf on Saturday, while an empty very large gas carrier entered, the data showed, with Saudi Arabia accounting for nearly half of crude oil exports and Iraq for 35% of total crude oil shipments that left the corridor.

The figures do not include vessels that may have crossed the Strait with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders switched off to avoid detection.

Before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28, about 125 large commercial vessels typically passed through Hormuz each day, accounting for roughly 20% of the world's oil. These included oil tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and container ships.