The Strait of Hormuz is rapidly turning into a maritime ghost town. Following a fierce exchange of U.S. and Iranian strikes, commercial transits plummeted further on Monday, leaving global supply chains on high alert.
Fresh data from Kpler reveals that only four commodity vessels risked the vital chokepoint yesterday—a drop from Sunday’s already subdued count of seven—with the remaining traffic heavily concentrated along Iranian routes.
Monday’s skeletal transit schedule was divided into a precise four-way split. Heading out of the chokepoint were two tankers—one laden with petrochemicals and the other completely empty.
Entering the volatile waters were an oil tanker and a bitumen carrier. Underscoring the severity of the maritime freeze, the strait saw an absolute zero-count for heavy energy transport, with both Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and LNG supertankers entirely absent from the tracking data.
Global maritime security fractured further on Monday following an unprecedented escalation by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Iran-aligned faction announced a sweeping naval blockade targeting Saudi Arabia. The move introduces a volatile new wildcard capable of upending international oil markets.
The immediate fallout manifested early Tuesday with a direct hit inside the world’s ultimate transit bottleneck. According to the UKMTO, a commercial tanker broadcasting from the Strait of Hormuz issued emergency alerts after being struck by an unknown weapon system.
Commercial fleets are facing an escalating gauntlet across the region. Just 24 hours earlier, Dynacom Tankers reported that two of its vessels were battered by unidentified projectiles off Oman, highlighting a rapidly widening danger zone for international crews.
The maritime assault is not contained to Middle Eastern waters. In a stark reminder of broader geopolitical volatility, a third tanker fell victim to a drone strike at Russia’s Novorossiysk CPC terminal in the Black Sea, demonstrating that the war on global shipping has gone global.
Editor’s Note: Representative image.
