PARIS: Here are the latest key facts about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping lane that Iran has agreed to reopening if the US-Israeli attacks cease, with two ships passing since.
Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes through the waterway in peacetime.
The Middle East war erupted on Feb 28 when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the region and restrict access to the strait.
More than five weeks later, hundreds of ships with thousands of seafarers onboard are still stuck in the Gulf.
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, less than an hour before President Donald Trump's deadline to obliterate the Islamic republic if it did not accept US war demands.
- First crossings since ceasefire -
Two ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since Iran agreed to reopen the waterway as part of a ceasefire deal, maritime monitor Marine Traffic said Wednesday (April 8).
"The Greek-owned bulk carrier NJ Earth crossed the Strait at 08:44 UTC, while the Liberia-flagged Daytona Beach transited earlier at 06:59 UTC, shortly after departing Bandar Abbas at 05:28 UTC", MarineTraffic said on X.
An average of eight commodities carriers have transited the strait per day from March 1 to April 7, according to maritime data provider Kpler -- an almost 95 percent decrease on peacetime.
Of the 307 total crossings in that time, 199 were by oil and gas tankers, and most were heading east towards the Gulf of Oman.
Six out of ten transits involved ships coming from or heading to Iran.
For tankers carrying cargo, that proportion rose to eight out of ten, according to an AFP analysis based on Kpler data.
- 800 ships stuck -
Some shipowners and charterers are preparing to move their vessels stuck in the Gulf, shipping journal Lloyd's List reported on Wednesday morning. It estimates around 800 ships have been stuck in the Gulf since the end of February.
A total of 172 million barrels of crude and refined products spread across some 187 tankers were at sea in the Arabian-Persian Gulf as of April 7, according to Kpler.
The Middle East war has caused the most severe supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Crude and refined petroleum products flows through the Strait of Hormuz fell from around 20 million barrels per day to an average of about 2.6 million since March 1, based on data by the IEA and Kpler analysed by AFP.
"While the ceasefire creates a window for transit, flows remain conditional and operationally constrained. The scale and composition of the backlog suggest crude will lead the initial wave of exports, even as selective passage and opaque transit patterns continue to complicate market visibility", Kpler said Wednesday on X.
- Thirty vessels targeted -
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have claimed three attacks on ships since Saturday, of which one has been confirmed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The latest confirmed incident involved the Marshall Islands-flagged Qingdao Star container ship, struck on Tuesday morning by an "unknown projectile which has caused damage above the waterline", according to British marine security agency UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
In total 30 commercial ships, including 13 tankers, have been attacked or reported incidents since March 1 in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, according to the IMO, UKMTO and Vanguard Tech.
- Iran-approved route -
Apart from three Omani tankers that passed through the strait last week near Oman's shore, recent crossings appeared to have used a different, Iranian-approved route just off the country's coast.
Kpler data shows that all ships crossing with their transponders on since Friday -- including the two vessels since the ceasefire -- passed through that route near Larak Island, which Lloyd's List has dubbed the "Tehran Toll Booth".
Lloyd's List analyst Bridget Diakun said last week that there had been at least two cases of shippers paying Iran for permission to pass, while others may have been gaining passage through "diplomatic negotiations". - AFP
