LONDON — Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to its lowest level since May, Kpler data show, even as the US Navy has said it has been escorting significantly more vessels through the strait after US and Iranian strikes on tankers.Kpler’s 10-day moving average showed just 10 commodity vessels transiting per day, down from more than 15 on Friday and nearly 13 on Saturday, data from analytics firm Kpler found.Only two vessels passed through the strait on Saturday while six went through on Sunday, mostly using the Iranian route.US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, US Central Command said, including one off Kharg Island, Iran’s key oil export hub, following attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on US warships in the region.In retaliation, the IRGC navy said on Saturday it targeted three oil tankers traveling unauthorized routes in the strait as well as three additional US vessels in other areas.The three Iranian tankers were Downy, Stark I and Kylo, also known as Noxen, maritime intelligence firm Marisks said in a note.The Saturday attacks represented a “major escalation in the maritime conflict,” Marisks said.“Commercial tankers are now being deliberately used as instruments of reciprocal economic pressure, substantially weakening the previous distinction between military confrontation and commercial shipping,” it added.“Risk is therefore assessed as extreme for Iranian/Iran-linked tonnage and materially elevated for US-linked or US-escorted shipping throughout the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman.”There have been 27 projectile strike incidents since July 6, resulting in damage to vessels operating in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in its weekly report.On Sunday, one very large crude carrier and three bulk carriers laden with metals, grains or oilseeds entered the strait, Kpler data showed.There has been no VLCC exiting the strait since Wednesday, according to Kpler data.Iran’s Foreign Ministry has fiercely rejected US accusations over the crisis, saying Washington started an unlawful war and is now trying to make the world pay for its consequences.Tehran insists commercial shipping was disrupted by US-Israeli military action and naval blockades, not by Iran. The diplomatic clash comes amid renewed fighting in the Gulf, growing tensions over maritime security and mounting fears of another global energy shock.Independent shipping data show Hormuz traffic at its lowest since May, a picture that sits awkwardly next to the US Navy’s own account of stepped-up tanker escorts.With the Athens-based Marisks assessing risk as extreme for Iranian-linked tonnage and materially elevated for US-linked shipping, insurance and freight costs for any vessel attempting the route are likely to stay elevated, reinforcing upward pressure on landed crude costs even before accounting for the direct loss of throughput.Reports that a refined products tanker was turned back attempting to exit the strait add a further squeeze on product availability layered on top of the crude disruption.
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