SINGAPORE, Aug 17 — Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend, following attacks on tankers, while United States (US)-Iran talks to resolve the Middle East conflict stalled.
Shiptracking data from Kpler showed five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, versus 31 the prior weekend.
Ships entering the strait on Saturday included an empty Very Large Crude Carrier with its Automatic Identification System switched off and an Indian-flagged Very Large Gas Carrier that used the Iranian route.
A small tanker laden with Iranian fuel oil exited.
Shipping appeared to grind to a near standstill after the United Arab Emirates said three vessels operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked in transit last week.
The US said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely.
Some ships may pass through undetected with transponders off, but the figures are far from the more than 130 ships a day that traversed the Strait of Hormuz before the US- and Israel-led war on Iran launched in February.
In an interview with local media on Saturday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Washington must meet Iran's conditions regarding the strait for shipping to resume.
The waterway handled a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.
At the Bab el-Mandeb strait, where Yemeni Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20, Kpler data showed 49 weekend transits by commodity vessels, down from 55 in the prior week. No tracked Saudi oil shipments were reported.
