Dozens of laden oil tankers are hunkering down inside the Persian Gulf after attacks near the St
rait of Hormuz have all but closed off the waterway, upending regional logistics, slowing exports and threatening near-term production.
At least 40 very-large crude carriers, or VLCCs, each carrying about 2 million barrels of oi
l, are currently idling within the Gulf, according to ship-tracking data by Kpler. Several owners and captains said that they were waiting for the security situation to become cl
earer before attempting to pass through the strait. Major shipping companies have also advised vessels to shelter in place.
“Inefficiencies will likely increase on the back of recent developments, as we expect shipowners to adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ approach,” Fearnley Securities analysts Fredrik Dybwad and Sigurd Gjone Gabrielsen wrote in a note.
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While Iran has not formally closed access to the chokepoint after US and Israeli strikes bega
n on Saturday, it has warned vessels not to proceed. At least three have come under attack as of Monday morning. More than half of the world’s largest maritime insuran
ce clubs have also now scrapped war-risk insurance for vessels entering the Gulf.
The result is the strait that connects some of the world’s largest producers to their buyers is effectively off-limits. In the last 24 hours, only a handful of larg
e tankers appear to have exited the waterway. Only two US-sanctioned Iranian tankers appear to be close to entering, according to ship-tracking data.
A tally of all transits by ship-tracking platform Vortexa shows only four supertankers transiting on March 1, down from 22 a day before.
The true number of vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf could be even higher once small tankers are taken into account. Many ships choose to switch off their transponder signals to “go dark” and limit risk, while signal jamming complicates tracking efforts