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Hormuz shipping nearly halted after U.S., Iran strikes
Strait is a critical energy route
Oil tankers and cargo vessels are anchored off the coast of Oman. (Elke Scholiers/Getty Images/Bloomberg)
Key Takeaways:
- Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz nearly halted July 9 as U.S. strikes on Iran for a second day strained a fragile truce and disrupted vessel movements.
- The slowdown matters because the choke point is a critical global energy route, with crossings dropping to about 20 vessels July 8 versus a recent average of 34, according to Kpler data.
- Shipowners are increasingly using dark transits and altered routes amid attacks and electronic interference, while continued conflict threatens further disruption to oil and gas flows.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz came to a near standstill on July 9 after the U.S. struck Iran for a second straight day, as a fragile truce between the two sides looked increasingly shaky.
Observable movements in the world’s most vital energy conduit largely occurred along an Iran-approved route nearer to the waterway’s north, while the U.S.-supported Omani corridor was quiet, ship-tracking data shows. Among larger vessels, only a U.S.-sanctioned supertanker heading out of the Persian Gulf was seen in the strait, alongside an Iranian-flagged containership.
READ MORE: Shipowners weigh Hormuz risks as U.S.-Iran deal crumbles
Some vessels crossed on July 8 with their transponders turned off. An India-flagged supertanker that had aborted an earlier attempt to transit Hormuz reappeared in the Gulf of Oman on July 9, indicating it had made the crossing in the dark. A United Arab Emirates-linked bulk carrier did the same, resurfacing off Fujairah on July 9, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
As the war has gone on, it has become increasingly evident that some oil tankers have been sailing through Hormuz with their transponders off to lower the risk of attack by Iranian forces. With three attacks on big oil and gas tankers this week, it’s very possible that the practice has resumed. Information about those dark transits takes several days to emerge.
The traffic slowdown comes after Iranian attacks on vessels prompted U.S. strikes, while President Donald Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over. Some 20 commodity carriers crossed the strait in either direction on July 8, fresh data from Kpler shows, making it one of the thinnest traffic flows since the interim peace deal in mid-June.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel tracking identified 33 Strait of Hormuz transits on Tuesday, but in the wake of the latest attacks no traceable transits were recorded in the southern corridor on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/Ns1GUfwUtT — Lloyd's List (@LloydsList) July 8, 2026
It’s a stark shift from recent daily activity in the strait. In the three weeks since the U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal to reopen Hormuz, average daily transits of commodity vessels was at 34, with a peak of 59 on June 24, Kpler data shows. That compares with a wartime daily count of less than 20 on most days.
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While liquefied natural gas tanker traffic through the strait remained at a standstill, two empty vessels have recently entered the Gulf of Oman and are heading toward the eastern entrance of Hormuz.
There were also signs that sporadic electronic interference was back, with vessels to the southeast of Limah in Oman in the Gulf of Oman appearing to travel at unusually fast speeds of at least 30 knots early on July 9. That could point to countries activating defense systems aimed at obstructing hostile forces’ drones from attacking their infrastructure, which can affect ships’ transponder signals. Electronic interference may also affect ship-tracking data.
