Ships passing through Strait of Hormuz fall to seven

Only seven commodity vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on August 20, half the number recorded a day earlier, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler, as uncertainty over US-Iran peace talks continues to raise concerns about the safety of shipping in the region.

Four vessels entered the strategic waterway while three left it, Caliber.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Before the war began in February, the strait handled nearly one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.

None of the seven vessels was a very large crude carrier (VLCC) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker.

However, Kpler data showed that one very large gas carrier carrying propane and butane passed out of the strait using the Iranian route.

Shipping activity also declined slightly on Thursday in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait compared with the previous two days.

A total of 23 commodity vessels transited the waterway, down from 34 on each of the previous two days. Of those, 16 entered the strait, and seven exited, according to Kpler.

Two of the seven vessels leaving the Bab el-Mandeb were Suezmax crude oil tankers, the Stoic Warrior and Dokos. The vessels were carrying oil bound for Vietnam and India, respectively.

No VLCCs or LNG tankers passed through the Bab el-Mandeb on Thursday.

Kpler noted that vessels travelling through either waterway with their transponders switched off are not included in its tracking data.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov