Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Middle Eastern maritime route, has remained severely limited despite a US assurance of security. Fewer than 20 cargo ships crossed the strait over the Saturday-Sunday weekend, according to preliminary vessel-tracking data cited in the report published on August 24, 2026.

Kpler data showed four ships crossing on Sunday and 13 on Saturday, after 16 crossings on Friday. The tracker said some vessels could not be monitored because they switched off their transponders while transiting the strait. Shipowners and operators still consider the route risky, while the cost of wartime insurance for voyages there has risen sharply.

On the alternative Bab al-Mandab route, 24 cargo vessels moved on Sunday, compared with 32 on Saturday and 22 on Friday. The International Energy Agency said that under normal conditions, around 20 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products pass through Hormuz each day, representing about 25 percent of global seaborne oil trade. About 80 percent of those shipments are destined for Asia.