The Strait of Hormuz right now

The geography has not changed

Whatever the conditions, the shape of the problem is fixed. The strait is the only sea passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, roughly 21 nautical miles across at its narrowest, with Iran on the northern shore and the Omani exclave of Musandam on the southern one.

Normal practice routes traffic through a separation scheme lying in Omani territorial waters: an inbound lane, an outbound lane, and a median between them, each about two miles wide. Usable water is the lane, not the channel, which is why a strait you can see across is a tight passage for a loaded tanker.

Transit volumes are far below normal

Traffic through the strait has been severely disrupted since late February 2026. The scale of the drop depends on which baseline you use, and the baselines differ by source.

IMF PortWatch works from a pre-crisis figure of about 85 transits a day, while maritime intelligence firm Windward cites roughly 140 vessels a day and CBS reported about 130 before the disruption. Recent daily counts have run in the single digits to low tens.

Weekly figures from Lloyd’s List Intelligence showed 73 transits between 10 and 16 August, down from 91 the week before, with crude tankers making up most movements. Those counts are preliminary and are revised upward as vessels running without AIS are identified.

Pre-disruption baseline

Roughly 85 to 140 transits a day, depending on the source and counting method.

Recent daily counts

Single digits to low tens, with wide day-to-day variation.

Counting caveat

Some vessels manipulate or disable AIS in transit, so published counts understate real movement.

How traffic is being routed

Reporting through the period describes vessels being directed away from the standard separation scheme and along a northern corridor closer to the Iranian coast, rather than the usual lanes in Omani waters. Diplomatic proposals reported in August involved formalising a version of that split, with inbound traffic through Iranian waters and outbound through Omani waters.

Treat any specific arrangement as provisional. Terms reported one week have repeatedly been contested or abandoned the next.

Cargo is moving around the strait, not just through it

Where cargo can avoid the passage, it has. Lloyd’s List Intelligence has reported rerouting via Fujairah and Khor Fakkan on the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coast, through Oman, and overland on the Jeddah land bridge, alongside accelerated port development at Fujairah specifically intended to bypass the strait.

Freight economics have moved sharply with it, with spot tanker rates on Gulf routes reported at extraordinary levels through August.

Where to check live figures

This page is maintained periodically and will lag events. For current numbers go to the primary sources: IMF PortWatch publishes daily transit counts, Lloyd’s List Intelligence publishes a regular Strait of Hormuz brief, and NBC News maintains a running traffic tracker. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre issues incident advisories.

Where those sources disagree, they usually disagree about counting method rather than direction of travel. Prefer a named source with a stated methodology over an aggregate figure with neither.

Common questions

Is the Strait of Hormuz open?

It has not been fully closed, but traffic has been running far below normal since late February 2026, and reporting through August described conditions as severely constrained. Check a live tracker before relying on any status claim, including this one.

Why do different sources give different traffic numbers?

They use different baselines and different counting methods, and vessels running without AIS are missed and later revised in. Compare like with like, and prefer sources that state their methodology.