Vessel traffic through the strait of Hormuz was mixed over the weekend, rising on Saturday before falling on Sunday, while Iran and the US continue to move further away from finding a diplomatic resolution to reopen the waterway.
On 22 August 34 ships passed through the waterway, while on 23 August transits dropped to 16, according to data from maritime security firm Windward.
Over the past seven days, the Middle East region exported nearly 6mn b/d of crude via the US Navy blockade line to global markets, vessel information firm TankerTrackers.com said today, around a third of the pre-war average for February 2026 of 19mn b/d. The US-imposed blockade on Iranian ports is being enforced from outside the strait of Hormuz between the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Iran is looking to further tighten its grip on the strait, with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority on Monday, announcing stronger transit rules for vessels transiting the narrow waterway. Bilateral discussions between Iran and Oman on traffic through the strait will resume this week, with Omani foreign minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi scheduled to visit Tehran on Tuesday, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson told state affiliated Irna.
Meanwhile, the US announced its new Operation Economic Outcast Monday, which aims to isolate Iran economically following unsuccessful attempts at using military force to make the country reopen the strait of Hormuz to pre-war commercial vessel traffic levels.
US officials have claimed large flows of energy through the strait of Hormuz for weeks despite little evidence to corroborate the figures.
Weekend tanker traffic
Vessel traffic on 22 August hit its highest in over a month at 34 transits, split between 20 inbound transits and 14 outbound along both the southern US-assisted traffic lane and the northern Iranian-controlled lane, according to Windward. This is likely the most traffic recorded since 7 July, when 36 vessels transited the strait, per Argus reporting.
A total of 11 tankers transited the strait that day, including six inbound transits on the southern lane and one on the northern lane. There were four outbound tanker transits, split between three northern and one southern transit, Windward data shows.
Notable inbound southern-lane transits included Grit, a very large crude carrier, that will likely load 2mn bl of crude in the Dubai lightering area, Kpler data shows.The LPG tankers Delma and Gas Warich were both scheduled to load around 500,000 bl each at Adnoc's Ruwais refinery, while the tanker Alfonso was set to load around 250,000 bl of fuel oil in Iraq, Kpler data shows.
Outbound transits included three tankers on the northern lane that are likely to load in Iran, and a ballast bitumen tanker, per Kpler.
On 23 August strait of Hormuz transits dropped to 16, split between six inbound and 10 outbound transits, mostly on the southern transit lane, according to Windward data.
There were three three inbound tanker transits on the southern lane and one on the northern lane, per Windward data. Inbound transits included the Gas Marakua and the Olympios Gas, set to load around 500,000 bl and 300,000 bl of LPG, respectively, at Qatar's Ras Laffan refinery, and the medium range refined oil products tanker Imperial.
