Traffic of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz dropped sharply on Monday, with only two commodity ships recorded passing through the crucial waterway compared to ten the previous day, according to recent shipping data. This decline marks a significant reduction from pre-conflict levels, when the strait typically accommodated around 125 large commercial vessels daily.

The Strait of Hormuz serves as a vital corridor for roughly 20 percent of the world’s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. The ongoing conflict involving Iran, which began on February 28, has disrupted the normal flow of maritime traffic, raising concerns about global energy supply and shipping security in one of the world’s most strategically important maritime chokepoints.

The reported vessel counts exclude any ships that may have traversed the strait with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders turned off, which is sometimes done by vessels to avoid detection during heightened tensions. Nevertheless, the sharp reduction in visible traffic underscores the broader impact of the conflict on commercial navigation and international energy markets.