Around one-third of the oil product tankers trapped in the Mideast Gulf at the start of the US-Iran war are still there, even though a fragile ceasefire has allowed more traffic through the strait of Hormuz.
When the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, there were 22 Long Range (LR) tankers in the Mideast Gulf either loaded with products or booked to load that week. Seven of them are still there after more than four months, Vortexa tracking indicates.
Tankers trickled out of the strait during the war, then hurried out in May as the US and Iran entered a ceasefire. Four more have exited the strait in the last month. But this pace of exits is still well below the pre-war norm. Without the war, all 22 tankers would probably have exited the strait within about a week.
Of the original 22, at least two seem to have re-entered the Gulf after exiting and delivering their products. The Abu Dhabi-III exited the strait of Hormuz in March and delivered products ship-to-ship near India, then returned to load products from Qatar in June and exited again successfully, according to Vortexa.
The Al Ruwais followed a similar route, leaving the Gulf in March and delivering to South Korea. It returned to the Middle East in May, switched off AIS tracking near the strait of Hormuz and switched it back on in the same place several weeks later, carrying products.
The Macarena, which diverted away from a Gulf booking in the first week of the war and went on to work other routes, has returned and sailed into the Gulf in recent days, illustrating a substantial easing in tanker movements. Saudi Aramco has booked the tanker to load diesel from Saudi Arabia's port of Jubail on 8 or 9 July for a European destination, according to shipping fixtures seen by Argus.
