Commercial shipping began creeping back through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, one day after an Iranian drone strike damaged a cargo ship near the coast of Oman and rattled one of the world’s busiest oil routes.
Maritime tracking data showed tankers once again entering and leaving the Gulf, though volume remained lighter than normal as shippers grapple with security risks.
The cautious rebound came after a Singapore-flagged cargo ship was struck Thursday, causing damage to the ship’s bridge, but no injuries.
Cargo ships are pictured off the coast of the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in the Sharjah Emirate, along the Gulf of Oman on June 19. AFP via Getty Images“We are aware of these reports and looking into them. President Trump has been clear that Iran cannot subvert the free flow of traffic in the Strait,” a US official told The Post about the reported strike late Thursday.
Still, traffic remained well below the pre-war average of between 130 and 150 vessels per day, as shipping companies and insurers continued to weigh the security risks of transiting the narrow waterway.
Over the past 24 hours, about 78 ships had made the voyage, according to maritime traffic monitors.
Commercial vessels and oil tankers preparing to transit through the Strait of Hormuz maintain their wait in the Gulf of Oman, on June 17. Anadolu via Getty ImagesThat comes despite the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization pausing its evacuation efforts of ships stuck in the strait following the Iranian strike.
“We have been able to evacuate at least around 115 vessels in the last three and a half days, representing around 2,500 seafarers that have now safely left the Strait of Hormuz,” IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez said Friday.
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“Whilst we have paused the evacuation from IMO, there’s still some vessels that are transiting in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz, and this is why it’s important to reactivate the mechanism in order to provide more safety guarantees for all the vessels that are waiting to transit,” he added.
Dominguez said the IMO would hold its evacuation efforts until it receives more “clarity” from Iran and other stakeholders.
The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil, making even brief disruptions a major concern for global energy markets.
