Ship traffic through Strait of Hormuz plummets by around 90%

Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply, as many gas and oil tankers avoid the vital waterway amid fears of potential Iranian attacks.

Claire Jungman, from energy intelligence company Vortexa, said an average of 24 tankers a day transited the strait between January and the outbreak of the conflict, BBC reports.

Maritime intelligence firm Kpler said that vessel movements through the strait dropped by around 90% between March 2 and 3, compared with the average for February 21 to 27.

The decline comes as major maritime insurers have pulled back or cancelled war-risk coverage for ships operating in the Gulf, making passage through the narrow strait—which carries roughly a fifth of the world’s traded oil—significantly more hazardous.

In the past 24 hours, BBC identified at least two cargo vessels whose tracking data shows they travelled east to west through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf.

Recently, the signals from onboard trackers for a number of vessels—including one flagged to India—have either disappeared or shown signs of being jammed.

By Vafa Guliyeva