Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has collapsed by roughly 95 percent, with daily vessel transits falling from about 100 ships to as few as five. The waterway handles close to a third of seaborne crude oil.
Crude exports from Gulf producers have dropped by around 47 percent, with direct shipments through the strait falling to roughly 2.2 million barrels a day.
Shipping has been rerouted toward the Red Sea and Southeast Asia, with Singapore and Malaysia emerging as major redistribution hubs. Kuwait recorded the steepest fall in port traffic, while Saudi Arabia’s decline was cushioned by pipelines.
Oil prices have risen about 20 percent, though analysts attribute much of the increase to market adjustment rather than an outright supply shock.
For the Gulf, at the very centre of the disruption, the reordering of shipping routes carries profound implications for economies built on energy exports.
