Hormuz transits fall to lowest in a month amid fresh escalation of tensions

Only 73 vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on July 10-12 as Iran's closure declaration, military tensions and severe security risks continued to disrupt shipping flows

Strait of Hormuz transits remained subdued during July 10-12, with a total of 73 vessel crossings over the three days. This equates to fewer than 25 crossings a day on average and underscores the continued impact of escalating security risks on vessel movements through the waterway, according to a report.

 

“Total transits on July 12 fell to just 11 after Iran declared the strait closed during the day, with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority stating that passage is not possible due to recent ‘illegal movements of US military forces’ in the region,” the report by S&P Global said.

 

This marked the lowest daily level since June 14 and the first day since June 12 with no inbound crossings recorded. Six of the transits were assessed as compliant vessels.

 

 

The Western-led Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) said in an advisory note on July 12 that the regional threat level remained severe. Despite Iran’s declaration, it noted that the southern route remained available and had been expanded to facilitate two-way traffic flows.

 

Transit counts totalled 32 on July 10 and 30 on July 11. Energy carriers — oil, chemical, LPG and LNG tankers — accounted for about 48 per cent of total transits during the three-day period. Two-thirds of these energy transits involved compliant vessels, but only 10 compliant energy carriers entered the Gulf.

 

“The majority of these inbound movements occurred without visible AIS signals and included the Greek-owned Suezmax vessel IMOLA, Sinokor-operated VLCCs ARGENTINA B and ROTTERDAM ENERGY, as well as a handful of oil product tankers,” the report by S&P Global MINT and S&P Global Commodities at Sea said.

 

Inbound tanker capacity has begun to soften. An average of 6.5 million barrels per day of new oil and LPG tanker capacity entered the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz during July 1-July 12, with VLCCs and Suezmaxes accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the total.

 

However, average inbound capacity fell to 6 million barrels per day during July 10-12, compared with 8.5 million barrels per day in the first week of July. Meanwhile, all compliant outbound energy carriers transiting the strait during the three-day period did so without visible AIS signals, including the ADNOC-operated LNG tanker AL HAMRA, VLCCs BELGIUM B, SERIFOS and NISSOS HERACLEA, as well as LR1/Panamax tankers CAPETAN ANDREAS and NAUTILUS.

 

Iran-linked and US-sanctioned vessels continued to account for a disproportionately large share of overall traffic, representing nearly 60 per cent of all crossings during the period, according to the report.

 

Numerous sanctioned tankers, bulk carriers, container vessels and landing craft transited the strait during the three-day period, including crude tankers RANI, DAN, DUNE and SCALER, product tanker DING XIANG, container ship ARTABAZ, bulk carrier ARTMAN and several Iran-flagged coastal vessels operating in the region. Many of these movements occurred through the Iranian Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS).

 

“The security environment deteriorated significantly during the period as the US and Iran engaged in a series of tit-for-tat escalations. US Central Command said late on July 12 that it had completed a fourth wave of strikes against Iran in the last week, hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking shipping flows through the strait,” S&P said.