Traffic slows.... Stops......

Hormuz traffic slows after renewed US-Iran clashes

By Tim Lister

International shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped after renewed US strikes against Iranian coastal installations over the past two nights, according to marine tracking data.

But some vessels continue to transit the strait without active transponders, making an accurate assessment difficult.

Fresh US strikes were triggered Wednesday and Thursday after drone attacks on three ships passing through Hormuz without Iranian consent.

On Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that “foreigners have no stake whatsoever in this land or the Strait of Hormuz,” and that “interference in determining the shipping route will not only be met with our crushing response, but will also seriously disrupt the gradual reopening process” that had begun with the signing of a memorandum between the US and Iran last month.

Ships must “obtain authorization from the IRGC Navy by disciplined compliance with security protocols,” it added in its statement.

Iran has used the recent lull in the conflict to accelerate exports from Kharg Island, its main export hub, according to shipping analysts.

“Anticipating a possible imminent resumption of the US Navy blockade, Tehran shipped out no less than 10 million barrels of crude oil and fuel oil overnight,” TankerTrackers reported Thursday.

“All three of Kharg Island’s export terminals stayed fully occupied” despite the latest US strikes, according to analysts at Windward, a maritime intelligence service.

“Approximately 63 million barrels of Iranian crude are now at sea,” Windward said. After the US this week revoked a waiver that had allowed Iranian crude exports, “operators, insurers, and buyers [are] fully exposed to U.S. secondary sanctions on any cargo they handle,” Windward noted.

Data from tracking service MarineTraffic showed just a handful of vessels in the Strait on Thursday, including two empty Iranian tankers entering the Gulf. A laden liquid petroleum gas carrier operated by ADNOC, the United Arab Emirates’ state energy company, was leaving the Gulf by a route close to the Omani coast.