Commercial vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to an almost complete standstill for a seventh consecutive day, with only ships linked to Iran making crossings in the past 24 hours. The slowdown follows a series of attacks on merchant vessels and continuing missile and drone threats that have made navigation through the narrow waterway extremely risky.
The last commercial vessel with no apparent connection to Iran to transit the strait was the Chinese-owned bulk carrier Sino Ocean, which crossed the passage on Saturday morning. Since then, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg indicates that only one Iran-linked bulk carrier has departed the Persian Gulf during the latest observation period, while no ships were recorded making the journey in the opposite direction.
The disruption has effectively halted normal shipping through one of the world’s most vital energy corridors. The Strait of Hormuz serves as a key gateway for oil exports from Gulf producers to global markets, and the near-total stop in vessel movements is already beginning to ripple across regional energy systems.
With oil tankers unable to move freely into and out of the Gulf, storage facilities are filling rapidly and some refineries have been forced to reduce processing capacity. Iraq has scaled back production in response to the logistical bottleneck, while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have also cut output. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is increasing shipments from its terminals along the Red Sea to record levels in an effort to maintain export flows. Tracking data shows that by Friday only nine empty supertankers remained available in the Persian Gulf.
Monitoring ship movements in the region has become increasingly difficult because of widespread signal interference and the deliberate disabling of vessel transponders. These disruptions prevent analysts from tracking ships consistently in real time, as vessels may disappear from monitoring systems and only reappear days later once satellite feeds detect them again.
To compensate for these gaps, analysts are tracking automated position signals across a wider maritime area including the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, and the Red Sea to determine whether vessels have entered or exited the Gulf. When possible transits are detected, investigators analyze signal histories to confirm whether the movement is genuine or the result of spoofing, a practice in which electronic interference falsifies a ship’s apparent location.
Some vessels may still be moving undetected if their transponders remain switched off. Iran-linked oil tankers have historically sailed from the Persian Gulf without broadcasting identification signals until reaching distant waters such as the Strait of Malacca roughly ten days after passing Fujairah. Other ships may now be adopting similar tactics to avoid threats and surveillance.
