On Wednesday, traffic of commodity vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz declined significantly, with only three ships recorded, compared to 12 the previous day. This current figure is substantially lower than the 10-day average of approximately 17 vessels, as indicated by preliminary ship-tracking data released on Thursday.
These numbers do not account for any ships that may have passed through the strait with their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders turned off to evade detection. Such actions typically mean that the actual number of transits could be higher than reported.
Among the three vessels that were tracked, one was an empty supramax dry bulk ship that entered through the Iranian route, while a second, an empty petroleum product tanker, approached via a route not revealed in standard tracking data. This information was captured at 04:45 GMT according to shipping data from Kpler.
In addition, a Panamax tanker was noted to have exited the Strait of Hormuz using a similarly obscure route. These movements suggest potential changes in shipping patterns in this critical commercial waterway.
