![\"Arabian](\"https:\/\/safety4sea.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/arabian-gulf-windward.avif\")
<\/a>Credit: Windward<\/p>\nInternational shipping remains active in the Gulf, but under reduced mobility, elevated risk, and increasing reliance on western Gulf corridors.<\/p>\n
Other key developments<\/p>\n
Crude exports west of Hormuz have fallen 87%, from\u00a020.1 million barrels per day\u00a0at the start of the war to\u00a02.7 million barrels per day for the week\u00a0ending\u00a0March 15.
\nRas Laffan, the world\u2019s largest LNG export hub,\u00a0was struck\u00a0on March 18, and Qatar confirmed a\u00a0full halt to gas production on March 19.
\nFujairah is functionally offline\u00a0as a bunkering hub\u00a0after\u00a0repeated drone strikes, sending bunker prices to historic highs and forcing suppliers into force majeure.
\nSaudi Arabia has shifted exports toward Yanbu, with\u00a057 VLCCs now underway to the port\u00a0and crude departures there reaching roughly\u00a05 million barrels per day, a 12-month high.
\nContainer shipping in the Gulf is no longer operating\u00a0as a flowing network\u00a0but as a holding pattern, with\u00a0119 container vessels\u00a0still transmitting inside the\u00a0Arabian Gulf, including 17 mainline ULCVs.
\nIran is sustaining selective maritime movement through a permission-based model, while also using\u00a0Kooh Mobarak\u00a0and the\u00a0Goreh-Jask pipeline\u00a0as a strategic export backdoor.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz operational overview<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz is no longer functioning as either a fully open route or a formally closed one \u2014 it is operating as\u00a0a selective system.<\/a><\/p>\n The early phase of the war triggered a near-instantaneous paralysis of traffic through the world\u2019s most sensitive maritime chokepoint. Traffic fell from a\u00a0daily average of 120 transits\u00a0in both directions prior to the conflict to a\u00a0daily average of just 6.9 transits, representing a\u00a094.2% collapse in active maritime traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Remote Sensing Intelligence\u00a0confirms that vessels are not merely going dark, but that the corridor has been physically vacated.\u00a0<\/p>\n The blockade has shifted from a total blockade to a permission-based system, where a specific subset of vessels has successfully navigated the strait by abandoning international shipping lanes in favor of Iranian territorial waters.<\/p>\n Windward has tracked at least five eastbound bulk carriers exiting the Gulf between March 15 and 16, hugging Iranian coastlines, rather than using the standard international navigation corridor. In nearly all of those cases, the vessels had previously called at Imam Khomeini Port. Two LPG carriers also successfully transited on March 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n Container shipping faces severe disruption\u00a0<\/p>\n Container shipping inside the Gulf is now operating as a\u00a0holding pattern rather than a functioning network.<\/p>\n As of March 18,\u00a0Windward\u00a0identified\u00a0119 container vessels actively transmitting inside the Arabian Gulf. That includes\u00a017 ULCVs\u00a0above 100,000 DWT and\u00a017 feeder vessels\u00a0below 10,000 DWT. Broader industry estimates place around\u00a0138 vessels sheltering in the Gulf by early March, with the delta explained by exits and non-transmitting vessels.<\/p>\n The operational impact is global. More than\u00a0270,000 TEU of cargo, valued at roughly $10 billion, is stranded or constrained.\u00a0But the bigger issue is rotation.\u00a0Vessels that cannot leave Hormuz cannot complete voyages, and\u00a0Cape rerouting adds 10 to 15 days\u00a0per round trip. That amplifies effective capacity withdrawal far beyond the raw stranded TEU number.<\/p>\n Rates are already moving. The Drewry World Container Index rose from $1,958 per FEU on February 26 to\u00a0$2,123 by March 12. Shanghai to Jebel Ali climbed from around $1,800 to above\u00a0$4,000 per FEU. Shanghai to Rotterdam\u00a0rose 19% to $2,443. Shanghai to Genoa\u00a0rose 10% to $3,120. Air freight has also surged, with South Asia to North America\u00a0up 58%\u00a0and Europe to the Middle East\u00a0up 55%.<\/p>\n
![\"Windward:](\"https:\/\/safety4sea.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/container-vessels-windward.avif\")
<\/a>Container vessels in the Arabian Gulf, March 18, 2026. Source: Windward Maritime AI\u2122 Platform.