SINGAPORE, Sept 11 (Reuters) – On Thursday, the number of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to seven from 11 the day before, according to initial ship-tracking data released on Friday. This is significantly below the 10-day average of 15 vessels.
Out of the seven vessels, two Panamax ships left the strait, one carrying fertilizer and the other traveling empty, as reported by ship tracker Kpler at 0306 GMT.
Five vessels entered the strait, including a Panamax ship with dry bulk cargo, a Handysize ship loaded with steel, another Handysize vessel carrying grains, a medium-range tanker transporting dirty petroleum products, and a Supramax vessel with dry bulk cargo.
These figures do not include any vessels that may have crossed the strait with their Automatic Identification System transponders turned off to avoid detection.
Additionally, two vessels linked to QatarEnergy, the Al Ghashamiya and the Al Daayen, were sighted in the Strait of Hormuz this week on September 9 and 6, respectively. They were last seen outside the strait on September 6 and 3.
Another vessel controlled by QatarEnergy, the Al Marrouna, also exited the Strait of Hormuz this week, completing a cargo delivery from Ras Laffan to Pakistan on September 10. This marked the first known LNG shipment on a Qatar-linked tanker since late July when the Al Areesh delivered a cargo from Ras Laffan to Pakistan.
QatarEnergy did not provide immediate comments after business hours.
Before the conflict in Iran began on February 28, the strait typically saw around 125 large commercial vessels each day, including tankers, gas carriers, bulkers, and container ships. This accounted for about 20% of the world’s daily supply of crude oil and liquefied natural gas.
A U.S. blockade related to Iranian shipping has halted Iranian crude oil exports since it was reintroduced in mid-July.
In the Red Sea, Houthis aligned with Iran seized control of Yemen's port city of Mocha on Thursday and progressed down the Red Sea coast toward strategic islands, according to military sources.
In the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, 26 commodity vessels were reported traveling through, with 10 vessels entering and 16 exiting, according to tracking data.
This is a decrease compared to an average of about 27 ships over the past 10 days.