Hormuz shipping slows as shipowners await clarity on reopening

Tehran, Iran. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed on Tuesday, with most shipowners avoiding the waterway amid a lack of clear signals on its reopening following a blockade during the Iran war.

Reduced vessel traffic

Kpler data showed that six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday by 0258 GMT, down from nine a day earlier and below the 10-day daily average of 11.

Inbound traffic included an empty very large crude carrier travelling along the Omani side of the strait, along with a medium-range tanker and an intermediate tanker. Two medium-range fuel tankers and a post-Panamax vessel exited the waterway.

Conflicting statements

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that no talks were taking place with Iran and maintained that the Strait of Hormuz was open. His statement contradicted Iran’s assertion that the waterway remained closed to shipping.

Before the war, the strait carried a fifth of global shipments of crude oil and liquefied natural gas.

Chinese and Red Sea shipping

Security concerns have curbed oil shipments to the world’s largest importer. According to tanker tracker Vortexa and a ship broker, two Chinese shipping giants that carried half of China’s Middle Eastern oil imports before the war have kept their tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb since late July.

At the Bab el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20, Kpler recorded 30 commodity-vessel transits over the weekend, up from 19 in the previous week. No Saudi oil shipments were tracked.