Shipping traffic via Strait of Hormuz stays lower than 10-day average

Ten commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, up from seven a day earlier and below the 10-day moving average of about 17, preliminary shipping data showed on Thursday.

Nine vessels entered the strait, including Supramax ships carrying metals, grain and other dry bulk cargoes, as well as an empty very large gas carrier. One Supramax carrying fertilizer exited, according to the data, as of 0423 GMT on Thursday.

The figures exclude any vessels that might have crossed the strait with their transponders turned off to avoid detection.

Before the US-Israeli war on Iran started on Feb 28, the strait typically handled about 125 large, commercial vessels a 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.

Iran and the US remain far apart on how to end the war but diplomacy must continue, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, after Iran’s president told the United Nations General Assembly that Tehran would never surrender to US pressure.

The senior Iranian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tehran was reviewing Washington’s response to its peace proposals, which prioritise lifting a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, 27 commodity vessels on Wednesday transited the waterway, up from 24 a day earlier and compared with an average of 26 ships using the strait in the past 10 days.