Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains virtually non-existent as the war between the US\/Israeli coalition and Iran deepens into its third week, leaving hundreds of vessels stranded and global supply chains in disarray with shipowners increasingly rerouting and bunkering plans thrown into chaos.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s public plea over the weekend for a naval coalition to open and make the strait safe has produced little immediate action. Trump urged countries to \u201csend ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat,\u201d but governments have been cautious. US secretary of energy Chris Wright said he was in dialogue with some of the countries mentioned and expected China \u201cwill be a constructive partner,\u201d yet no firm commitments have been announced. France and Germany voiced reservations; Germany\u2019s foreign minister called the idea \u201csceptical,\u201d and analysts question whether major powers will place warships directly into a hot conflict zone.<\/p>\n
The security picture worsened over the weekend with the US targeting Iran\u2019s crude export hotspot, Kharg Islands, while Fujairah \u2013 a key global bunkering hub \u2013 suffered a drone strike that set fire to facilities in the Fujairah Petroleum Industries Zone. Authorities reported ongoing efforts to contain fires and confirmed one minor injury, while oil loading operations were reported to have resumed but not yet returned to normal. An Indian\u2011flagged vessel has departed Fujairah carrying crude, with many security analysts now suggesting Tehran will let ships belonging to friendly nations pass by its shores unscathed.<\/p>\n
As access to Hormuz becomes a geopolitical tool rather than a simple shipping lane, analysts flag a new reality. \u201cAccess to the Strait may increasingly be managed through selective authorization rather than normal commercial freedom of navigation, with some vessels permitted passage based on operational or diplomatic considerations,\u201d maritime analytics platform Windward said..<\/p>\n
Shipping analysts at HSBC note widespread disruption to container shipping: vessels are avoiding the strait and unloading at peripheral Gulf ports, worsening regional congestion and pushing carriers to consider distant alternatives such as Colombo. The bank highlights mounting equipment imbalances as empty boxes struggle to return to Asian hubs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the tanker markets, HSBC noted today: \u201cTankers are now competing for available cargoes and repositioning to alternative loading ports in the ME, West Africa, and the US Gulf, adding to supply\u2011side pressure,\u201d warning the disconnect between headline Middle East rates and actual fleet earnings is widening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains virtually non-existent as the war between the US\/Israeli coalition and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,69],"class_list":["post-21383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-iran","tag-tehran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116237996229064048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}