Commodity vessel traffic at the Strait of Hormuz further slowed on Wednesday as operators continue to avoid the area amid heightened security concerns and uncertainties about how far Iran’s control could extend.
As of early Wednesday, ship-tracking data on Kpler showed that just six commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
The tanker traffic fell from nine crossings on Monday and was below the 10-day average of 11 commodity ships moving in or out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz.
One empty crude oil supertanker and two smaller tankers moved into the Gulf on Tuesday via a lane close to Oman, while two medium-range fuel tankers and a post-Panamax vessel transited outbound from Hormuz, according to the Kpler data monitored by Reuters.
The U.S. Administration insists the Strait of Hormuz remains open to traffic, but Iran remains steadfast in its claim that the chokepoint is closed.
Tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz has become even more erratic this week than before, with vessels meandering and U-turning, unsure how to proceed amid escalating security threats and Iran’s insistence on control over the chokepoint.
The security situation in the region has worsened in recent days after a cargo vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday local time.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO said on Tuesday that it had received a report of an incident with a cargo vessel while it was conducting an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz.
With tanker traffic slowed and uncertainty about transits higher, crude oil prices extended their gains for the fourth day early on Wednesday, amid harder rhetoric from both Iran and the United States, with both sides demonstrating an unwillingness to return to the negotiating table.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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