Hormuz shipping traffic plunges as Gulf war intensifies

Commodity vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz dwindled to ​just three ships on Wednesday, down from ‌12 a day earlier and well below the 10-day average of about 17, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Thursday. The ​figures exclude any vessels that might have ​passed through the waterway with their Automatic Identification ⁠System transponders turned off to avoid detection. Of ​the three vessels, an empty Supramax dry bulk ship ​entered the strait via the Iranian route, while an empty petroleum product tanker entered through a dark route, shipping data ​from Kpler showed at 0445 GMT. A Panamax ​tanker exited the waterway using a dark route, the data showed. Vessel ‌traffic ⁠dropped this week as war in the Gulf intensified. Saudi Arabian warplanes pounded Yemen and Houthi fighters launched drones and missiles at Saudi cities. The Iran-backed ​Houthis’ rapid advance ​in Yemen ⁠along the Red Sea coast, attacks on Saudi Arabia and damage to ​the kingdom’s East-West oil pipeline have widened ​Tehran’s ⁠reach in the conflict and raised risks to global oil supplies. In the Red Sea, vessel crossings through ⁠the ​Bab el-Mandeb Strait eased to ​21 on Wednesday, compared with 24 vessels a day earlier.

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