Shipping through Strait of Hormuz drops to 3.1 ships daily
World
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most consequential shipping routes for the global energy market, has dropped sharply.
Last week saw just 3.1 ships a day pass through, compared with 86 a day this time last year.
This decline started in July and has only gotten steeper since then.
Hormuz tankers nearly vanished, oil plunged
It's not just regular ships: tanker traffic in Hormuz has nearly vanished, with only 4 tankers spotted last week (down from 48.4 tankers a day last year).
Oil shipments have plunged too, falling from 21.6 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 4.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is seeing similar issues, as renewed fighting in Yemen and attacks make the Red Sea route riskier.