Hormuz commodity ship transits fall to nine, ship tracking data shows

Vessel transits at the Strait of Hormuz fell on Thursday to 9, compared with the previous day’s 14, preliminary shiptracking data showed on Friday.

Of those, eight ships exited, according to the data.

The 10-day average of transits is 18.

Some vessels may be sailing through the waterway with their transponders turned off and are not considered in the counts.

Of the eight exits, one was a ballast very large gas carrier and one was a laden very large crude carrier (VLCC).

The rest of the exits were made by Panamax, Supramax, short-range and medium-range tankers.

The vessel that entered the strait was a dry bulk handymax carrier.

Before the Iran war started on Feb 28, the strait typically handled about 125 large, commercial vessels per day, including tankers, gas carriers, bulkers and container vessels, accounting for some 20% of the world’s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas supply.

At the Bab el-Mandeb strait, ship transits on Thursday were little changed from Wednesday at 26, with 12 ships entering and 14 ships exiting, Kpler data showed.

Of the ships that entered, one was a laden VLCC carrying Iraqi Basrah crude bound for Egypt with its transponder switched on.