Strait of Hormuz cargo traffic falls 95 percent amid war
Cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped by about 95 percent since the Middle East war erupted with US Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. From March 1 to the early hours of March 24, only 149 commodity carrier crossings were recorded in the 167 kilometre long waterway. Data from analytics firm Kpler shows that 94 of these crossings were by oil and gas tankers, with around 61 percent of them loaded and more than two thirds sailing eastwards out of the strait. On Monday, Iran flagged tankers Artman and Kiazand, along with US sanctioned vessel Lenore, were among the few ships to pass through. The Jasmin tanker sailed in the opposite direction, heading towards an Iranian port after departing Karachi. A Chinese owned container ship, Newvoyager, also transited the strait after reportedly making a payment to […]