Kpler: Cargo ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz reached its lowest level since Ordibehesht

Kpler: Cargo ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz reached its lowest level since Ordibehesht

🔸Based on shipping data on Monday, 16 Shahrivar, over the past 10 days, on average only 10 cargo ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz per day, which is the lowest level since Ordibehesht to date.

🔸Kpler, a shipping information analysis company, says that the 10-day average movement of ships on Sunday, 15 Shahrivar, has reached 10 ships per day. The figure was more than 15 ships on Friday and close to 13 ships on Saturday.

🔸Accordingly, on Saturday only two ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz, and on Sunday six ships did so as well, most of which used the Iran route.

🔸U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, said that on Saturday U.S. forces attacked three Iranian oil tankers, one of which was targeted near Kharg Island, the main hub for Iran’s oil exports. The attacks were carried out after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked U.S. warships in the region.

🔸In response, the IRGC Navy on Saturday also announced that it had targeted the three oil tankers that had transited the strait through “unauthorized” routes, as well as three other ships linked to the United States in other areas.

🔸The maritime intelligence company MarisK, in a note, said: “Commercial tankers are now being intentionally used as a tool for reciprocal economic pressure, and this has significantly blurred the previous distinction between military confrontation and commercial shipping.”

🔸The company added: “Therefore, the risk to tankers with Iranian flags or linked to Iran across the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman is assessed as very severe, and the risk to ships linked to the United States or ships under U.S. escort has also increased significantly.”

🔸Based on the weekly report of the British “Maritime Trade Operations,” since July 6 there have been 27 incidents involving projectile attacks that have caused damage to ships operating in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

🔸Kpler data shows that on Sunday a very large crude oil tanker and three bulk carriers carrying cargoes of metals, grains, or oilseeds entered the Strait of Hormuz, but since Wednesday, no very large crude oil tanker has left the Strait of Hormuz.