SINGAPORE: Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to slow at the start of the week as heightened security concerns followed a fresh round of military exchanges between the United States and Iran, according to shipping data released on Tuesday.
Data from maritime analytics firm Kpler showed that only four commodity vessels transited the strategically important waterway on Monday, compared with seven on Sunday.
Most of the recorded movements were along the Iranian shipping route, reflecting growing caution among vessel operators navigating one of the world’s most critical energy corridors.
Of the four vessels, two departed the Strait while two entered. The outbound traffic consisted of one tanker transporting petrochemical products and another empty tanker. The inbound ships included a bitumen carrier and an oil tanker.
Notably, there were no visible movements of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers through the Strait on Monday, an indication that operators of larger energy vessels may be exercising increased caution amid the deteriorating regional security environment.
The decline in vessel traffic comes as tensions across the Gulf continue to escalate following renewed military strikes and retaliatory attacks between Washington and Tehran, raising concerns over the safety of one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.
Adding to the uncertainty, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency reported on Tuesday that it had received multiple notifications from a tanker claiming it had been struck by an unidentified projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
In a separate development, Greek shipping company Dynacom Tankers said two ships under its management were hit by projectiles of unknown origin on Monday while sailing off the coast of Oman.
ALSO READ: Saudi Foreign Minister, Regional Counterparts Stress Need for Collective Efforts for Peace
The company also reported that a third tanker sustained damage after being struck by a drone at Russia’s Novorossiysk Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on the Black Sea.
The latest incidents underscore mounting risks to international shipping as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continue to threaten maritime security and the uninterrupted flow of global energy supplies.
