Traffic at the Strait of Hormuz thinned on Monday, hours before the start of a US blockade of Iranian ports, according to ship tracking data.
Ship tracking sites showed one tanker linked to Iran, the Auroura, in the Gulf of Oman after passing through the strait. The ship is sanctioned by the United States.
The New Future, a Chinese-owned tanker carrying petroleum products, also passed through, according to MarineTraffic, a ship tracking site. It had left a port in the United Arab Emirates.
A Chinese bulk carrier showing its destination as Iraq was headed into the Strait from the Gulf of Oman.
Dozens of vessels – most of them Iranian-operated – are shown at anchor within a few miles of Iran’s main port, Bandar Abbas, which is close to the Strait.
“All traffic” through the strait had been halted Sunday night, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a maritime data provider, after US President Donald Trump announced a blockade of the Strait. The US military subsequently said the blockade would apply to Iranian ports, not the strait itself.
Fourteen vessels crossed the Strait earlier Sunday, according to marine data firm Kpler, of which five were leaving the Gulf. The largest was a Chinese-owned and operated tanker.
Ten large Iranian tankers tracked through satellite imagery are outside the strait in the Gulf of Oman, according to TankerTrackers, which tracks oil shipments. The tankers, which are carrying cargo, have a cumulative capacity of 21 million barrels.
It added that one Iranian tanker had arrived in India with two million barrels of Iranian crude following the sanctions waiver issued by the United States last month. The waiver, which applied to Iranian oil at sea, expires on April 19.