Will Cunliffe
Research Analyst, The Officials
Straitjacket
Chokepoints are living up to their name this year: Iran have the Strait on lockdown, their Houthi counterparts are yet to follow through on
Chokepoints are living up to their name this year: Iran have the Strait on lockdown, their Houthi counterparts are yet to follow through on the Bab el-Mandeb threats and Panama is becoming problematic too!
Several ship counters have recorded a drop in passages into the low single digits in the last few days; Lloyd’s counted just 3 in its latest data. The Iranians have proved there’s bite behind their bark threatening to attack shipping in the Strait. CENTCOM said on X the US had launched more strikes intending to “further degrade” Iran’s ability to attack shipping in the Strait… but months of on and off attacks have made little progress on that front. They posted similar proclamations the last few nights – what effect has that had so far? The crew of the Acheloos (IMO: 1087524) VLCC, the Dynacom tanker struck in the Strait yesterday that we reported on, has abandoned ship but the UKMTO says there is currently no environmental impact. Already, some in the market are talking about an upcoming TACO as the Hormuz situation worsens and the Houthis get noisier.
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