Conflict hits global trade: shipping thins out in Strait of Hormuz

Amid the deepening military-political crisis between the United States and Iran, the number of ships passing through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz has sharply declined, falling to just 17 over the weekend. While traffic has thinned on this key sea route, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war, Middle Eastern producers are covertly continuing oil exports by tankers with their transponders switched off.

"Postxronika.az" reports, citing Reuters, that according to the latest data from analytics firms "Kpler" and LSEG, among the giant crude oil tankers and gas carriers leaving the strait was the tanker "Pinios", which transferred Iraqi oil to another ship bound for China near the UAE's Fujairah port. Also, the LNG tanker "Shandong Redwood", which picked up a cargo from Qatar's Ras Laffan port, sped up its passage through Hormuz toward Pakistan despite the security risks.

This slowdown in a strait that, before the conflict, was used by an average of 125 large commercial ships a day, is causing serious concern in global energy markets. While shipping companies have so far declined to officially comment on the situation, it is stressed that the risk of military confrontation directly threatens the security of maritime trade.

Rəşad Hüseynov