The combination of Iranian attacks on merchant vessels and the soaring cost of war risk insurance has slowed the transit of ships through Hormuz to a trickle. At least 23 commercial vessels have been attacked in the Gulf since the start of the Israeli-US war on Iran on 28 February.
Traffic through the Strait has collapsed to around 10 vessels per day, down from as many as 230 before the conflict. Typically, around 20mn b/d of oil transits the Strait of Hormuz, but this has now fallen to around 2mn b/d of primarily-Iranian volumes – Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iraq have managed to maintain some exports through their Hormuz-bypass pipelines (MEES, 26 March). The limited traffic that remains is comprised mainly of vessels belonging to the ‘shadow fleet’, carrying Iranian crude primarily to China. (CONTINUED - 941 WORDS)
