Strait of Hormuz traffic barely affected on first day of US blockade, data shows
By Florence Tan, Mariko Katsumura and Jonathan Saul
SINGAPORE/LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz did little to change on Tuesday, the first full day of a U.S. blockade of ships calling at Iranian ports; At least eight ships, including three Iran-linked tankers, have passed through the waterway, shipping data show.
US President Donald Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after peace talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad over the weekend failed to reach an agreement.
The blockade created even more uncertainty for shippers, oil companies and war risk insurers. Traffic remained at just a fraction of the more than 130 crossings a day before the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran began on Feb. 28, industry sources said Tuesday.
“No ships were able to break through the US blockade in the first 24 hours,” US Central Command said at X, adding that six ships complied with US forces’ instructions to turn back to re-enter the Iranian port.
The three Iran-related ships passing through the Bosphorus were not affected by the blockade because they did not go to Iranian ports.
According to LSEG data, the Panama-flagged medium-range tanker Peace Gulf is heading to the port of Hamriyah in the United Arab Emirates.
The ship often carries Iranian naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, to other Middle Eastern ports outside Iran for export to Asia, according to Kpler data.
Before that, two US-sanctioned tankers had passed through the narrow waterway.
According to Kpler data, the handy tanker Murlikishan is heading to Iraq to load fuel oil on April 16. The ship, formerly known as MKA, was carrying Russian and Iranian oil.
Another sanctioned tanker, Rich Starry, will be the first tanker to cross the strait and exit the Gulf since the blockade began, according to data from LSEG and Kpler.
The tanker and its owner, Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co, were subject to US sanctions for doing business with Iran. The company could not be reached for immediate comment.
Rich Starry is a medium-range tanker carrying approximately 250,000 barrels of methanol, according to data. The data showed that it loaded the cargo at the UAE’s Hamriyah port, its last port of call.
The data showed that there was a Chinese crew on the Chinese-owned tanker.
China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the US blockade of Iranian ports was “dangerous and irresponsible”, warning that it would only escalate tensions. The ministry did not mention whether Chinese ships passed through the strait.
NEW voyages in the Bosphorus
Five more ships had passed through the strait since the blockade began at 14:00 GMT on Monday. These included two other chemical and gas tankers, two dry cargo ships and the Ocean Energy cargo ship docked in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
A US military memo sent to sailors and seen by Reuters said humanitarian aid shipments would be exempt from the blockade.
“The United States does not need to block all kinds of ships or enter the Strait of Hormuz; it can impose an intermittent blockade,” said Fabrizio Coticchia, a professor of political science at the University of Genoa in Italy.
Coticchia said, “The ships will not be attacked, on the contrary, they will be diverted,” and “US Warships will be deployed outside the strait in the Gulf of Oman.
Industry sources said the cost of war risk insurance has not increased since the blockade began but remains in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, with additional weekly costs typically reviewed by insurance companies every 48 hours.
“A return to ‘normality’ in the Middle East likely looks further away than it did a week ago, especially given that the US navy has initiated a blockade,” shipbroker BRS said in a report. he said.
“It is estimated that there will be little or no commercial traffic in the Bosphorus for the foreseeable future.”
(Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore, Mariko Katsumura in Tokyo, Jonathan Saul in London, Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and Francesca Landini in Milan, Editing by Himani Sarkar, Jamie Freed, Sharon Singleton and David Goodman)
