Shipping traffic via Strait of Hormuz stays below 10-day average

Three cargo ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, a decrease from four a day earlier and below the 10-day average of approximately 15, according to shipping data released on Wednesday. The information could change as vessels often deactivate their transponders during transit. The three vessels, including one Panamax tanker, were all exiting the strait, as reported by shiptracker Kpler at 0200 GMT.

Despite this, one ballast liquefied natural gas tanker, Al Mafyar, reappeared inside the strait on Tuesday, having been last seen outside the waterway on September 19, per Kpler and LSEG data. The Strait of Hormuz once handled a fifth of the world's oil and gas before the US-Iran conflict. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump declared he could obliterate Iran if no deal ends the war, but also hinted an agreement might soon be reached through diplomatic efforts at the United Nations.

Meanwhile, 22 commodity ships sailed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, a critical trade route between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with 14 vessels heading to the Red Sea and 8 to the Gulf of Aden. This figure compared to an average of around 26 ships using the strait in the past 10 days.