Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz fell by 77% on Thursday, dropping from 22 vessels the day before to five vessels. Based on data from maritime analytics company Kepler, all five vessels transited under Iran’s unilateral “initiative,” and no traffic was recorded through the Hormuz traffic separation scheme—the known international route.

Kepler said this situation indicates a decline in operational trust and a narrowing of routing options in this strategic waterway.

In contrast, traffic in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait remained relatively steady, with 47 transits recorded, four of which involved sanctioned vessels and eight of which were related to the “shadow fleet.”