Hormuz Traffic Falls to Five-Week Low as Tensions Escalate

The number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to multi-week lows on Sunday, shipping data showed, as renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran and attacks on ships in the Middle East heightened safety concerns.

Six vessels transited the strait on Sunday, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, the lowest number in five weeks.

Tankers that exited the strait included the Very Large Crude Carrier Humanity, laden with 2 million barrels of Iranian oil and another tanker, Capetan Andreas, carrying about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products, the data showed, while three empty tankers entered the Gulf to load oil. Most of the tankers switched off their transponders when crossing the strait.

There were no liquefied natural gas tankers that entered the strait over the weekend that were visible on ship-tracking data.

One tanker controlled by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co exited the strait between July 10 and July 12, Kpler data showed. The vessel is heading for Dahej port in India.

U.S. forces completed another wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday, hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions, the Central Command said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial traffic, although Iran declared earlier that it closed the strait after a vessel travelled on an unapproved route and was struck.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that its navy stopped two ships in the Strait of Hormuz last night by shutting down their systems. It did not name the ships involved.

(Reuters - Reporting by Florence Tan, Emily Chow, Siyi Liu and Trixie Yap; Editing by Lincoln Feast)