Traffic recovery around Hormuz reversed after US counter-blockade in International Shipping News 16/04/2026 A quick update from AXSMarine on vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz based on the latest AIS-derived data: After a gradual recovery through late March and early April, crossings have now slowed again following the US Navy’s enforcement of a counter-blockade on 13 April. Through most of March, confirmed crossings across dry bulk, tanker, and gas segments averaged fewer than 5 per day. By the final week of the month, that figure had risen to around 10, continuing into early April — notably before any ceasefire was announced, suggesting traffic was already beginning to recover. The early-April ceasefire added modest momentum, with crossings peaking at 17 on 12 April. However, within 24 hours of the counter-blockade enforcement, daily crossings fell back to single digits. As of 15 April, 949 merchant vessels are tracked west of Hormuz inside the Gulf, with 307 operating without AIS signals. This puts the AIS-dark rate at 32%, more than double the pre-conflict baseline of 17%. By segment: 299 dry bulk vessels (87 in blackout), with bulk remaining the most active segment, albeit still skewed outbound 58 gas carriers, with very limited LNG activity 429 tankers (144 in blackout), with movements remaining selective From an ownership perspective (counting post-1 April crossings), activity is concentrated among a relatively narrow group: Greek owners dominate bulk flows Tanker traffic is led by Chinese, UAE and sanction-linked fleets Gas movements are driven primarily by Indian, UAE and sanction-linked operators Source: AXS Marine 2026-04-16 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share