Hormuz shipping traffic drops after Saturday strike on vessel

Maritime traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz experienced a notable slowdown over the weekend after a vessel was struck while navigating the waterway on Saturday. This incident occurred amidst a renewed exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran, which has strained a preliminary deal aimed at de-escalating conflict.

Data from maritime tracking firm Kpler revealed a sharp drop in vessel crossings. On Saturday, 29 commodity vessels transited the strait, followed by only 12 on Sunday. This marks a significant decline from the previous week, when traffic had surged to its highest level since the start of the Middle East war, reaching 70 crossings on Wednesday. The increase followed a memorandum of understanding signed between Tehran and Washington on June 15.

Despite Iran's warnings against using unapproved shipping lanes, vessels continued to use various routes. However, after the Saturday morning strike, ships initially utilized a southern corridor through Omani waters before overall traffic appeared to diminish. Kpler's MarineTraffic website, which tracks vessels with active transponders, noted that more ships entered the Gulf over the weekend than departed, reversing the trend of the prior week when efforts focused on evacuating stranded seafarers.

Adding to the tensions, Iran announced on Monday that it had held its first meeting with Oman to discuss managing the strait. This comes as the United States maintains its stance that it will not accept transit fees for what it considers an international waterway. A UN-led operation to evacuate 11,000 seafarers was suspended on Thursday after a vessel was struck in the Gulf of Oman.