![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tanker-traffic-through-strait-of-hormuz-bloomberg-580x449.jpg\")
Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled, with vessels pooling on either side of the corridor.<\/p>\n
The result is the strait that connects some of the world\u2019s largest producers to their buyers is effectively off-limits. In the last 24 hours, only a handful of large tankers appear to have exited the waterway. Only two US-sanctioned Iranian tankers appear to be close to entering, according to ship-tracking data.<\/p>\n
A tally of all transits by ship-tracking platform Vortexa shows only four supertankers transiting on March 1, down from 22 a day before.<\/p>\n
The true number of vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf could be even higher once small tankers are taken into account. Many ships choose to switch off their transponder signals to \u201cgo dark\u201d and limit risk, while signal jamming complicates tracking efforts.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/supertankers-avoid-strait-of-hormuz-after-iran-strikes-bloomberg-580x383.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational naval advisory group that focuses on the region, has raised its security alert level to \u201ccritical\u201d, its highest, citing \u201cconfirmed missile and drone attacks against multiple commercial vessels within the Gulf of Oman, Musandam approaches, and UAE coastal waters.\u201d One US-flagged tanker, the Stena Imperative, was struck by projectiles, JMIC said.<\/p>\n
In a sign of how uncertain the situation has become, the JMIC said<\/a> that a tanker previously flagged as a casualty, the Sea La Donna, is no longer considered impacted.<\/p>\n Flag registries \u2014 authorities that ensure vessels comply with international law \u2014 have also sounded the alarm. The Liberian and Marshall Islands registries, which are the world\u2019s top and third-largest respectively, have told ships to adhere to the highest level of security, meaning cargo operations should be suspended.<\/p>\n The collapse in traffic is already rattling importing nations but it could ultimately also threaten producers. With limited storage and few empty ships available inside the Gulf, producers could see tanks fill up if the crisis drags on for weeks \u2014 and find themselves forced to suspend output.<\/p>\n JPMorgan & Chase analysts estimated an effective closure lasting more than 25 days could force production shut-ins.<\/p>\n Hormuz is also a vital transit rout for LNG. Qatar is the world\u2019s second-largest LNG exporter, making up 20% of supply last year, and the country\u2019s shipments must pass through the Strait to reach buyers in Asia and Europe.<\/p>\n Several container ships have also either halted, or U-turned while transiting.<\/p>\n Concerns have also spilled over into the Red Sea, where Yemen-based militia Houthis had been targeting commercial ships with projectiles. Some of the world\u2019s largest container carriers are rerouting ships to avoid the Red Sea, after the Tehran-backed Houthis threatened to restart attacks on cargo ships in the area.<\/p>\n Photograph: An oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Photo credit: Kaveh Kazemi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Related:<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.<\/p>\n \n Topics Interested in Energy?<\/p>\n Get automatic alerts for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of laden oil tankers are hunkering down inside the Persian Gulf after attacks near the Strait of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[525,2046,39,2048,2049,1080,2051,519],"class_list":{"0":"post-85539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-marine-insurance","9":"tag-marine-war-risks","10":"tag-persian-gulf","11":"tag-protection-and-indemnity-pi","12":"tag-protection-and-indemnity-pi-clubs","13":"tag-us-iran-conflict","14":"tag-war-risks","15":"tag-war-risk-insurance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116476167018509465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85539","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=85539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Energy<\/a>
\n Oil Gas<\/a>\n <\/p>\n