Shipping traffic through the Hormuz Strait is showing signs of limited recovery despite threats from Iran to re-blockade the area. While the volume of maritime logistics has not yet returned to pre-war levels, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and oil tankers are once again navigating the strait.
On June 22, Reuters reported, citing vessel tracking data and analysis from the commodities information firm Kpler, that four LNG carriers operated by Qatar passed through the Hormuz Strait into the Persian Gulf. This movement marks the first confirmed transit of these vessels since the outbreak of conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran.
Oil transportation has also resumed to some extent. Two very large crude carriers, capable of carrying a combined total of approximately 4 million barrels of oil, entered the Persian Gulf, with one reporting its destination as Iraq's Basra port. Additionally, two smaller tankers carrying less than 200,000 barrels of oil each exited the Hormuz Strait and headed toward the Gulf of Oman, according to the vessel tracking site MarineTraffic.
However, the volume of traffic remains significantly below pre-war levels. In a report released on the same day, shipping brokerage Clarkson's noted that daily transits have not yet reached the pre-conflict level of 125. Nonetheless, they described the trend as positive.
Industry experts believe that the actual number of vessels passing through may be higher than publicly available tracking data suggests. Some tankers may have operated with their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) turned off for safety reasons, making their real-time movements untraceable on public tracking networks.
The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), led by the U.S. Navy, also announced that vessel traffic through the Hormuz Strait has begun to increase. JMIC explained that commercial ships are continuing their voyages by navigating through Omani territorial waters or using northern routes controlled by Iran.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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