A total of some 90 ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran earlier this month, according to data from maritime traffic tracking outlets. This is down from over 100 ships traversing the strait on a daily basis before the war.
A lot of these 90 vessels appear to have been oil tankers, the data suggests, with AP, which cited it, saying that many of the successful ships were in so-called dark mode when they passed Hormuz and were likely linked to the Iranian government, according to Lloyd’s List.
Data from Kpler shows that despite the closure of the vital oil chokepoint, Iran has exported over 16 million barrels of crude since the start of the month. This is hardly surprising since it is Iran that controls the strait, preventing the movement of non-Iranian vessels. Recently, however, Tehran also allowed Pakistani and Indian ships to pass through the strait.
“The Strait of Hormuz is open, it is only closed to the tankers and ships belonging to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies. Others are free to pass,” Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi, said last weekend.
Meanwhile, reports said that Iran was in talks with China to allow Chinese-linked tankers to cross the strait, with an Iranian government official telling a CNN reporter that they may also consider allowing other tankers to traverse the strait as long as their cargo was traded in yuan, per The Telegraph. This may explain why ship tracking firms have been reporting a steady—if meager—flow of Chinese-declared vessels via the Strait of Hormuz in recent days.
Traffic along the chokepoint remains severely constrained, with Windward reporting average passages of no more than a couple of vessels. However, on Tuesday, the firm reported a rare departure of an Iranian oil tanker from the Kooh Mobarak terminal that did not go through the Strait of Hormuz. The terminal is located east of the chokepoint. The tanker was loaded with heavy crude for China, Windward reported.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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