Hormuz shipping drops as owners await clear reopening signals amid blockade uncertainty

Tracking firm Kpler reported that just six commodity vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, a decline from nine the prior day and below the ten-day daily average of 11 ships. The reduced flow consisted of an empty very large crude carrier hugging the Omani side, a medium-range and an intermediate tanker heading inbound, and two medium-range fuel tankers plus a post-Panamax vessel exiting the strait. President Donald Trump asserted on Tuesday that no talks were occurring with Iran and that the strait remained open, a statement at odds with Iran’s assertion that it stayed closed.

Before the conflict, the waterway handled roughly one-fifth of global crude oil and LNG shipments; security concerns have led two major Chinese shipping firms, which previously accounted for half of China's imports of Middle Eastern oil, to keep their tankers out of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb since late July, according to Vortexa and a broker. At the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint in the Red Sea, Kpler recorded 30 commodity ship transits over the weekend, up from 19 the week before, while no Saudi oil cargoes were tracked. The slowdown underscores ongoing uncertainty over the strait’s operational status and its impact on worldwide energy flows.