Strait of Hormuz traffic collapses, then trickles
Maritime posts reported vessel traffic near zero around the Strait of Hormuz after enforcement moves, later showing only a small trickle of movement amid IRGC restrictions. ( )
Ship traffic at the Strait of Hormuz fell to almost nothing on April 18 after Iran said the waterway had returned to “strict management,” then resumed only in a tightly controlled trickle. (nbcnews.com) Reuters reported that a convoy of eight tankers was moving through the strait on Saturday, the first major ship movement since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began seven weeks earlier. A day earlier, a senior Iranian official said commercial ships could pass only if transit was coordinated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (usnews.com, usnews.com) Iran’s military said on April 18 that control of Hormuz had “returned to its previous status” because the United States kept its naval blockade on Iranian ports in place after Tehran had announced the strait was open on April 17. The Associated Press reported that Iranian gunboats also fired on a tanker trying to pass through on Saturday. (washingtonpost.com, apnews.com) The strait is the only sea outlet from the Persian Gulf, and the International Energy Agency says about 20 million barrels a day of oil and oil products moved through it in 2025. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says the route also carried about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas trade in 2024. (iea.org, eia.gov) That helps explain why shipping companies did not treat Iran’s April 17 reopening announcement as a return to normal. Al Jazeera reported that operators were still seeking clarity on mines, Iranian conditions for passage, and how any arrangement would work in practice. (aljazeera.com) The controlled-flow system had been taking shape before Saturday’s reversal. USNI News reported on April 9 that most transits were already moving through an Iran-approved corridor under what maritime analysts described as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “tollbooth” system. (news.usni.org) Lloyd’s List reported in late March that ships using that corridor needed pre-clearance codes and Iranian escort arrangements, and Iran later published a redrawn traffic separation scheme that it said was meant to reduce collision risks and avoid possible naval mines. (lloydslist.com, maritime-executive.com) The result on April 18 was not a reopened chokepoint so much as a narrow, conditional passage controlled by Tehran and shadowed by the U.S. blockade. For shipowners, insurers and oil buyers, the difference between “open” and “moving” is now measured one escorted convoy at a time. (reuters.com, usnews.com)
