Strait of Hormuz shipping traffic is effectively at a standstill despite Iran ceasefire

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual standstill Thursday, with only a handful of ships passing through the vital waterway since the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual standstill Thursday, with only a handful of ships passing through the vital waterway since the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

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Just five bulk carriers had transited the waterway in the first 24 hours of the deal, according to data from the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic and Kpler, a data and analytics firm, while S&P Global Market Intelligence said nine vessels had passed through across Wednesday and Thursday.

But the exact numbers are unclear, as some ships turn off or spoof their GPS trackers during transit. Yet the current traffic is a trickle compared with the prewar average of more than 100 vessels sailing through the strait daily. It is also far from the “total reopening” that President Donald Trump had demanded as a condition for the truce.