Shipping activity through the Strait of Hormuz slowed significantly over the weekend after a vessel was hit while passing through the strategic waterway on Saturday, amid renewed tensions between the United States and Iran that have cast doubt on their initial agreement to de-escalate hostilities.
According to maritime analytics company Kpler, 29 commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, while only 12 crossings were recorded on Sunday.
The decline comes after traffic surged last week following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington on June 15.
The agreement had driven vessel movements to their highest level since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict, with 70 crossings recorded on Wednesday.
Although Iran warned ships against using routes that had not been approved, vessels continued to navigate through multiple channels in the strait over the weekend.
Data from MarineTraffic, a vessel-tracking platform owned by Kpler, showed that ships continued using a southern passage through Omani waters for several hours after Saturday’s incident before movement in the area began to ease.
Because MarineTraffic tracks only vessels with active transponders, the actual number of crossings may be higher, as some ships could have travelled with their tracking systems switched off.
The weekend also saw more vessels entering the Gulf than leaving it, reversing the pattern observed in recent days when maritime operations largely focused on evacuating crews stranded in the region.
A United Nations-backed effort to evacuate about 11,000 seafarers was halted on Thursday after another vessel was struck in the Gulf of Oman.
On Sunday, four tankers and a container vessel entered the Gulf through the southern Omani corridor under the protection of US Navy escorts, according to HFI Research in a post on X.
Kpler data indicated that no ships used the same corridor to leave the Gulf on Sunday.
Maritime analysts noted that final traffic figures could increase as additional crossings are confirmed through satellite imagery and other retrospective tracking methods.
Meanwhile, Iran announced on Monday that it had held its first round of talks with Oman on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz.
The discussions come as Washington maintains that it will not accept transit charges for passage through what it regards as international waters.
