Ships in Strait of Hormuz drop to five per day after weekend attacks
Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to five ships per day during the weekend, down from 14 on Friday, as operators rerouted cargoes following repeated attacks on tankers.
Source: The Business Times Singapore · August 31, 2026 at 12:01 AM · AI-assisted report
Single-source
STRAIT OF HORMUZ, LARAK ISLAND, MALAYSIA, 31 AUGUST 2026 —
Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to five ships per day during the weekend, down from 14 on Friday, as operators rerouted cargoes following repeated attacks on tankers.
Market Impact
According to commodities data provider Kpler, weekend movements were limited to small vessels including two liquefied petroleum gas carriers. One of them sailed through Iranian waters while the other turned off its transponder and headed for India. A very large crude carrier laden with two million barrels of Qatari crude exited the strait on Friday with its transponder switched off.
The decline in transits follows a third attack on a tanker reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations on Sunday. An unknown projectile struck a vessel inbound through the strait, the agency said. Tensions escalated further after US forces launched strikes on two Iranian launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the first American strikes on Iran since late July.
Kpler noted that some ships may have turned off their automatic identification systems to avoid detection, meaning actual traffic could be higher than the visible count.
Related: Kpler