Strait of Hormuz transits drop as US and Iran escalate attacks across Gulf

Just three commodity vessels cross the vital waterway on Thursday, down from 11 the previous day, while crude carriers and liquefied natural gas tankers stay away entirely

By Reuters 17 July 2026, 10:24 am

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This picture shows ships sailing near the Strait of Hormuz off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates at Khor Fakkan on July 13, 2026. (AFP)

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE — Just three commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the fewest daily transits since May, shipping data showed, with most ships halting or making U-turns after recent Iranian attacks on vessels and the resumption of a US blockade on Iran-related shipping.

The re-escalation in fighting between the US and Iran has once again largely stopped traffic through Hormuz, the world’s most important shipping route for oil and gas, driving up global energy prices.

Miraan, a sanctioned product tanker carrying fuel oil, and Norita, a small vessel carrying liquefied petroleum gas, exited the strait on Thursday via the Iranian route but stopped at the Gulf of Oman, where the US blockade is, Kpler data showed as of 07:13 a.m. Israel time on Friday.

Arolia, a bunkering tanker laden with Iraqi fuel oil that is used to refuel vessels at sea, made a U-turn to head back into the Gulf hours after it exited earlier on Friday, LSEG data showed.

On Wednesday, 11 vessels crossed the strait, a fraction of the average of 125 vessels that transited the waterway daily before the war.

There were no Very Large Crude Carriers or liquefied natural gas tankers passing through the strait for a second day on Thursday.

A woman stands at the water’s edge along the Strait of Hormuz as a plume of smoke rises in the background following an explosion, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)

However, two VLCCs reappeared on AIS tracking on Thursday outside the strait, carrying 2 million barrels of crude each.

The VLCC Colombia Prosperity, laden with Saudi crude, is heading to Okinawa in Japan, while the Costa Rica Prosperity, carrying Iraqi Basra Medium crude, is destined for Turkey, the data showed.

Kpler’s database showed that the tankers crossed the strait on July 13, while S&P Global Energy assessed that they exited on July 14.

Iraq briefly suspended oil loadings on Thursday after a drone hit an oil tanker at its Basra terminal, four Iraqi oil and security sources told Reuters, before later resuming them.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Thursday that no oil or gas would be exported through the Strait of Hormuz as long as US attacks continued, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.

In a further threat to energy supply, Tehran has signalled that if Washington attacks Iran’s infrastructure, it could prod its Houthi allies in Yemen to close another key strait, the Bab al-Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea, sources told Reuters.