A total of nine vessels crossed the strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, with four inbound and five outbound transits, data from maritime security firm Windward shows.
Of the inbound transits, one was a tanker on the US-assisted southern lane, while two of the five outbound ships were on the southern lane. The remaining transits took place on the Iranian-controlled northern lane.
Wednesday's transits are up by five vessels from the day before, but still far below the pre-war average of around 135 vessels daily. Vessel traffic on Wednesday stood at around 6.5pc of traffic levels prior to the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February.
The US Central Command assisted 44 transits through the strait of Hormuz between 1-2 September, according to data posted Thursday by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre. The figure could not be corroborated by any available satellite or vessel tracking information reviewed by Argus.
US President Donald Trump continues to claim large amounts of crude is making it through the strait of Hormuz, posting a graphic titled "Hormuz Oil Volumes are BACK!" on social media Thursday. The graphic claims that "now" 18mn b/d of crude are exiting the strait of Hormuz, prior to "before", when volumes were around 20mn b/d.
Vice president JD Vance echoed Trump's claims, stating that 15mn bl of crude exited the strait of Hormuz overnight at a White House press briefing on Thursday.
There have been some days where combined flows from the Mideast Gulf, including loadings from ports in the UAE and Oman, reached close to 18mn b/d, such as on 9 August, per data from vessel information firm TankerTrackers.com. But the daily average for flows through the strait remains far below pre-war levels. As of 2 September, over the prior 28 complete days 7.54mn b/d exited the Mideast Gulf, according to TankerTrackers.com, including 5.04mn b/d through the strait of Hormuz.
The rate for a very large crude carrier to move crude from the Mideast Gulf through Hormuz to Asia-Pacific rose to an all-time high of $19.39/bl on 2 September, a $11.69/bl premium over the route that bypasses Hormuz and starts in the Gulf of Oman, Argus data shows.
