Item 1 of 5 Drone view of oil tanker HELGA berthed at one of Iraq’s southern offshore oil terminals near Basra as it prepares to load crude oil, becoming the second vessel to arrive since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, April 24, 2026. REUTERS\/Mohammed Aty<\/p>\n
[1\/5]Drone view of oil tanker HELGA berthed at one of Iraq’s southern offshore oil terminals near Basra as it prepares to load crude oil, becoming the second vessel to arrive since the closure of the… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab<\/a> Read more<\/p>\n LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Only five ships, including one Iranian oil products tanker, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, Friday shipping data showed, after Iran seized two container ships \u200bthis week and the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports.<\/p>\n Shipping traffic passing through the crucial \u200cwaterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.<\/p>\n Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n “For most shipping companies, they will need a stable ceasefire and \u200bassurances from both sides of the conflict that the Strait of Hormuz is safe to transit,” \u200bsaid Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at shipping association BIMCO.<\/p>\n “In the meantime, shipping \u2060will be restricted to using routes close to Iran and Oman. Due to their confined nature, these \u200broutes cannot safely accommodate the normal volumes of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Larsen added.<\/p>\n The Iranian-flagged oil products \u200btanker Niki, which is subject to U.S. sanctions, was among the few vessels that sailed out of the strait with no destination listed, Kpler analysis and tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed on Friday.<\/p>\n It was unclear what would happen if it \u200bcontinued to sail further east towards the blockade line imposed by the U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n Nearly two months after the \u200bU.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, there is little sign of peace talks resuming.<\/p>\n Container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd (HLAG.DE), opens new tab<\/a> said on \u200cFriday that one \u2060of its ships has crossed<\/a> the strait but did not provide any information on the circumstances or timing.The Comoros-flagged supertanker Helga arrived at an offshore oil loading terminal in Iraq’s southern Basra port on Friday<\/a>, the second vessel to reach Iraq since the strait’s closure.Iran’s use of a swarm of small, fast boats<\/a> to seize two \u200bcontainer ships near the strait \u200bon Wednesday has heightened \u2060concerns among many shipping and oil companies.<\/p>\n “The latest seizures make clear, even an ‘open’ Strait of Hormuz is not a safe Strait of Hormuz for seafarers, ships and \u200bcargo,” Peter Sand, chief analyst with ocean and air freight intelligence platform Xeneta, said \u200bin a \u2060note.<\/p>\n Between April 22 and early April 23, seven vessels transited the strait, six of which were involved in Iran-related trade, analysis from Lloyd’s List Intelligence showed.<\/p>\n The closure of the strait has disrupted a fifth of the world’s oil and \u2060liquefied \u200bnatural gas (LNG) supplies and triggered a global energy crisis.<\/p>\n Hundreds of ships \u200band 20,000 seafarers remained stranded inside the Gulf with war risk insurers and oil companies watching for any sign that the risks may \u200bhave eased so they can prepare to sail through.<\/p>\n Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Elke Ahlswede; Editing by Alexander Smith<\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n