Strait of Hormuz shipping grinds to a halt ahead of U.S.-Iran ceasefire expiry

Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has slowed sharply. According to Kpler data, only five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with no recorded ship crossings on Sunday. This compares to 31 vessels at the start of the previous weekend.

The slowdown follows attacks on tankers and stalled US-Iran talks. The United Arab Emirates reported that three vessels operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked in transit last week. The United States has stated that it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.

Some ships may be passing through undetected with their transponders off. Before the current conflict, the Strait of Hormuz handled over 130 ship crossings per day. According to CNBC World, a ceasefire between the US and Iran is set to expire on Monday with no deal in sight.

Brief written by urgent.news from CNBC World, The National UAE, New Voice of Ukraine, New Straits Times, Ajel English — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.