Ship movement drops in Strait of Hormuz amid escalating tension between US and Iran

Strait of Hormuz
Reuters/Stringer
Ship tracking data has shown that liquefied natural gas tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, and 22 Japanese-linked vessels have left the Gulf since Tuesday, but overall daily traffic has slowed as tensions intensify in the Middle East.
Shipping companies and governments are monitoring the Strait of Hormuz following this week's Iranian attacks on ships trade and US retaliatory strikes against Iran.
Data from Kpler and LSEG showed that at least five unloaded LNG tankers entered the strait in recent days.
Among them are the GasLog Shanghai, controlled by the Greek shipping company GasLog, and ships linked to QatarEnergy: Al Samriya, Al Dafna, Al Gattara and Al Rayyan.
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GasLog Shanghai and the Al Rayyan likely entered the strait during the early hours of the morning, having been spotted outside the waterway on July 9, according to the data.
The other three vessels linked to QatarEnergy were last seen outside the Strait of Hormuz on India's west coast several weeks ago, with the Al Samriya and Al Gattara last sighted around June 18-19 and the Al Dafna on June 29.
A QatarEnergy and GasLog did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
The supertanker Nissos Kea entered the strait on Thursday, while the supertanker Lila Vadinar left.
"What is different now, compared to the beginning of the conflict, is that Iran is attacking ships using the Oman route, rather than targeting all ships, which means that ships will increasingly choose the Iranian route or to transit discreetly as they pass through the strait," said Xavier Tang, senior market analyst at Vortexa.
Shipping industry sources said vessels are increasingly turning off their public AIS tracking transponders, making it difficult to see all ships crossing the strait.
A Kpler analysis of ships that can be tracked revealed that LNG and oil tanker traffic fell to its lowest daily level since June 28 in Thursday, when 10 ships passed through the strait, compared to 14 on Wednesday and 22 on Monday.

Source: G1