Ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has dropped significantly, with only 12 vessels passing over the weekend, down from 125 daily pre-war.
Ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical transit points for global energy trade, has sharply declined. Over the weekend, only 12 commodity ships were reported to have passed through the strait, whereas prior to the war, approximately 125 large commercial vessels were transiting the Strait of Hormuz daily.
Tensions in the Persian Gulf continue to suppress commercial maritime transportation conducted through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to data from ship tracking and analysis company Kpler, a total of 12 commodity ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.
The previous weekend, this number was recorded as 35.
Before the war between the U.S.-Israel and Iran began on February 28, approximately 125 large commercial vessels, including tankers, LNG carriers, bulk carriers, and container ships, were passing through the Strait of Hormuz daily.
Visible traffic has sharply decreased.
According to Kpler's preliminary data, among the ships tracked on Sunday, two tankers carrying refined petroleum products and two empty bulk and gas carriers exited the Strait of Hormuz.
On the same day, two small oil tankers entered the Persian Gulf.
On Saturday, five ships carrying agricultural products, LPG, and fertilizers departed from the Gulf, while a large empty gas carrier entered through Hormuz.
The figures reveal that the visible commercial ship traffic in Hormuz remains extraordinarily low compared to pre-war levels.
Tankers are passing with AIS turned off.
However, the traffic seen in ship tracking systems does not reflect the total amount of oil passing through Hormuz.
It has been reported that some tankers in the region are navigating with their AIS transponders turned off for security reasons, making them invisible in satellite and AIS-based ship tracking systems.
Therefore, despite the dramatic decrease in the number of ships in the strait, oil exports from the Middle East have not completely halted.
13 tankers carried 34 million barrels of oil.
According to Kpler data, during the week of September 13, 13 tankers, mostly of the VLCC class, exited the Strait of Hormuz carrying a total of approximately 34 million barrels of crude oil.
About half of this oil was exported by Saudi Arabia, while 35% was exported by Iraq.
There has been a particularly notable increase in shipments from Saudi Arabia through Hormuz.
In September, Saudi Arabia's total crude oil exports exceeded 4 million barrels per day. In August, this figure had dropped to 2.4 million barrels per day.
According to satellite data, the amount of Saudi oil transported through Hormuz has also risen to an average of 2.9 million barrels per day over the past six days. In August, this figure was approximately 700,000 barrels.
Hormuz has once again become a critical route.
Houthi attacks on the East-West oil pipeline, one of Saudi Arabia's alternative export routes, have led the Riyadh administration to redirect a larger portion of its oil exports back through the Strait of Hormuz.
Thus, the Strait of Hormuz, which carries high security risks, has once again become more significant for Saudi oil exports.
Developments in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG trade passed before the war, are closely monitored in terms of energy markets, tanker freight rates, and marine insurance costs.
The contraction of ship supply in the region and the increase in security risks are leading to historic levels in freight rates, especially for large crude oil tankers.
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
