Shipping traffic through Strait of Hormuz rises slightly, data shows

Shipping traffic at ​the Strait of Hormuz rose slightly ‌even ​as a standoff persisted between the United States and Iran, data showed on Thursday, while the market monitored Iran-Oman talks ‌about the waterway.

Visible commodity vessel transits at Hormuz totalled 10 on Wednesday, up slightly from eight on Tuesday, data from Kpler showed. This was below a 10-day moving average ‌of about 15 vessels. Two medium-range fuel tankers, a liquefied petroleum gas carrier, a Panamax-sized ‌tanker, and three handymax-sized tankers entered the strait from the Gulf of Oman.

A medium-range fuel tanker, a bitumen tanker and a bulk carrier exited the waterway from the Gulf. Iran and Oman are still ⁠working on ​the details of ⁠an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source said on Wednesday, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards ⁠said the two countries had agreed how to share the waterway and its revenue.

A tanker ​was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a ⁠fire that was later extinguished, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said early on Thursday. Meanwhile, traffic ⁠slowed ​for a second day at the other key waterway of the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

A total of 19 commodity vessels passed through Bab el-Mandeb on Wednesday, with ⁠six tankers that exited, including a very large crude carrier, down from 24 on the ⁠previous day, the ⁠Kpler data showed. Some vessels may be sailing at the key waterways with their transponders turned off and may be missed in the ‌counts.