US-Iran conflict escalates, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has almost stopped

On July 9, the United States launched a strike against Iran for the second consecutive day. The fragile ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran became increasingly unstable. Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz almost came to a standstill on Thursday. Ship tracking data shows that on the world's most important energy corridor, observable traffic is mainly concentrated on routes approved by Iran near the northern part of the waterway, while the U.S. -backed Oman Corridor is very deserted. Among the large ships, only one very large oil tanker subject to U.S. sanctions sailed out of the Persian Gulf, while an Iranian-flagged container ship appeared in the strait. However, it is not ruled out that some ships may have turned off their transponders and passed through the strait. This is in sharp contrast to the recent daily activities in the Strait of Hormuz. Kpler data shows that in the three weeks since the United States and Iran reached an interim agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the average daily transit volume of commodity carriers has been 34, peaking at 59 on June 24, compared with less than 20 on most days during the war. (Jin Shi)