The number of ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz has continued to taper since the start of the war in the Middle East, falling to just four ships on March 8 from 91 seen on Feb. 28, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data collected on March 9.
AIS signals from S&P Global’s Market Intelligence Network showed four ships transiting the Strait as of March 8, comprised of an Iranian Medium Range tanker, the Dalia, two bulk carriers and one other ship.
Additionally, Iranian oil and LPG shipments have continued to pass through in recent days, such as the Very Large Crude Carrier, Voy, which is carrying Indian crude and destined for China, the data shows.
Of total ships crossing the Strait, the number of oil and chemical tankers has dropped to just one as of March 8 from 44 on Feb. 28, the data showed.
Some 75 oil, chemical and LPG tankers were anchored in the Gulf of Oman as of March 9, possibly waiting to transit inbound through the strait, of which 20 are crude tankers, including VLCCs, Suezmaxes and Aframaxes or Long Range 2 tankers.
While cross-commodity markets scramble to assess the risk of shipping through the strait, a temporary US waiver has enabled sanctioned tankers to transport Russian oil, after G7-linked tanker operators increased their share in the restricted market in February.
In fact, several tanker owners are opting for revised and exponentially more expensive war risk coverage even as they remain hesitant to cross the strait amid serious crew safety concerns, market participants said March 9.
Meanwhile, around 126 million barrels of crude on water remain positioned in the Gulf west of the Strait of Hormuz, with around 10-12 tankers ballasting within the strait that could still be available to load crude.
Preliminary CAS data also shows over 5 million barrels of Saudi crude loaded from the Middle East Gulf on March 8, while another 4.5 million barrels were loaded from Mina al Fahal in Oman, and Fujairah in the UAE outside the Strait.
This brought total crude oil loadings from the region to 12.4 million barrels on March 8, while volumes loaded inside the Strait of Hormuz totaled 7.8 million barrels, up from 5.1 million barrels on March 7.
Source: Platts
