Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been 17% of its pre-conflict average over the past seven days, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO).
Control of the vital waterway has been the focus of the latest war, with US President Donald Trump saying on Thursday that he plans to declare it US territory after “we finish defeating Iran.” The Iranian government immediately responded, with the deputy foreign minister saying that the Strait of Hormuz “cannot be occupied by tweets or aircraft carriers.”
The UKMTO’s latest report on Friday said just 151 ships had entered or left the narrow waterway in the past seven days.
According to the report, 56 incidents of damage to ships have been reported in the Strait of Hormuz and its surrounding waters since the US-Iran war began on February 28. However, this tally does not appear to include two recent attacks reported on Thursday. In a separate update, UKMTO reported that the vessel sustained “minor damage” after Thursday’s drone attack. Additionally, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced that two of its ships were attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait’s alternative interim corridor, the southern Oman route, remains the highest risk, accounting for 16 of the 18 projectile attack incidents reported by UKMTO since 6 July.
The U.S. naval blockade remains in effect, banning ships from entering and exiting Iranian ports, both within and outside the strait. However, in the past seven days, one Iranian-flagged ship is reported to have entered port through the Strait of Hormuz, and another has departed.
The most common flags of vessels passing through the disputed waterway were Panama and Liberia, with 12 vessels each. No US flagged vessels were reported.
The most common type of vessel passing through the Strait is a product tanker, typically transporting refined petroleum products.
According to UKMTO, the latest figures show a slight improvement on the previous week, when traffic volumes were just 4% of pre-war levels.
For more information, check out our interactive on how the war changed traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
