Shipping data showed Monday that the daily average number of commodity-carrying vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz stood at 10 over the past 10 days, the lowest level since May, following US and Iranian strikes targeting tankers.
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Data from Kpler showed that the 10-day moving average stood at 10 vessels on Sunday, compared with more than 15 vessels on Friday and nearly 13 on Saturday.
Only two vessels transited the strait on Saturday, while six passed through on Sunday, most of them using the Iranian route.
The US Central Command said its forces targeted three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one tanker off Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, following attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on US warships in the region.
In response, the IRGC Navy said Saturday that it had targeted three oil tankers using unauthorized routes through the strait, in addition to three US vessels in different areas.
Maritime intelligence firm Marisks said in a note that the three Iranian tankers were Downey, Stark 1 and Kylo, also known as Noxen.
The company said Saturday’s attacks represented a “major escalation in the maritime conflict.”
It added: “Commercial tankers are now being deliberately used as instruments of reciprocal economic pressure, significantly weakening the previous distinction between military confrontation and commercial shipping.”
“Accordingly, the risk level is assessed as extremely high for Iranian or Iran-linked cargoes, and materially elevated for US-linked vessels or those escorted by US forces, across the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman,” the company said.
Kpler data showed that one very large crude carrier and three bulk carriers loaded with metals, grain or oilseeds entered the strait on Sunday.
Data from the London Stock Exchange Group also showed that a tanker carrying refined petroleum products loaded at a Saudi port attempted to leave the strait but was forced to turn back.
Kpler data showed that no very large crude carrier has departed the Strait of Hormuz since Wednesday.
Source: Reuters
