Hormuz traffic stays thin as CENTCOM diverts 115 commercial ships
Shipping through the strait remains below its recent average, keeping a risk premium in crude that has not cleared.
Assembled by Claude from 11 sources at 10 outlets · Thursday, September 24, 2026, Morning edition, 10:23 AM EDT · no human byline
What happened
Ten commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, up from seven a day earlier but below the ten-day moving average of about seventeen, according to Reuters reuters.com. The Syrian state agency SANA reported the same count of ten cargo vessels, describing traffic as rising but still below average sana.sy. OilPrice headlined that just one commodity vessel left the strait on Wednesday, while its own report said ten crossed oilprice.com.
The US military is actively managing the flow. As of 23 September, Central Command had diverted 115 commercial vessels in the strait shafaq.comground.news, a step it described as maintaining strict enforcement of the blockade against Iran newsquawk.com. An attack on a cargo ship in the strait on Wednesday killed an Indian sailor, Omani and Indian authorities said scmp.com.
Why it matters to investors
Thin traffic is why the oil risk premium is not fading. InvestingLive wrote that the shipping numbers are a reminder the oil market is still a long way from an all-clear investinglive.com. Brent climbed back above $103 a barrel as US-Iran talks stalled oilprice.com. Traffic remains below the ten-day moving average even after Wednesday's increase reuters.comsana.sy.
Flows have adapted rather than stopped. Saudi Arabia has sold nearly 100 million barrels of crude to Asian buyers through the strait since its East-West pipeline went offline oilprice.com. ABC News reported that Gulf nations have found ways to keep oil moving, against early fears that Tehran's closure of the strait would send prices through the roof abcnews.com. Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, the route that bypasses the strait, has been offline, which is why those barrels moved through Hormuz itself oilprice.com.
What to watch
The sources do not agree on how much is moving. Reuters and SANA both count ten vessels on Wednesday reuters.comsana.sy, while the OilPrice headline figure is far lower oilprice.com, and the divergence matters because the transit count is the market's proxy for how tight the chokepoint really is investinglive.com.
Some in the industry treat the disruption as permanent. Jonathan Berman, chief executive of the Shell Foundation, said the Hormuz disruption will lead to a structural shift and a permanent move to energy that is much more reliable semafor.com. In the near term the variables are the diversion count ground.news, the pace of transits reuters.com and whether the stalled US-Iran talks resume oilprice.com.
Sources
- reuters.com: Shipping traffic via Strait of Hormuz stays lower than 10-day average, data shows | Reuters (2026-09-24)
- oilprice.com: Just One Commodity Vessel Left the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday - OilPrice.com (2026-09-24)
- investinglive.com: Thin Strait of Hormuz traffic shows why oil's risk premium is proving sticky - investingLive (2026-09-24)
- sana.sy: Shipping traffic through Strait of Hormuz rises, remains below average (2026-09-24)
- shafaq.com: Shafaq News.. CENTCOM : 115 ships diverted in Strait of Hormuz (2026-09-23)
- ground.news: Shafaq News.. CENTCOM : 115 Ships Rerouted in the Strait of Hormuz - Ground News (2026-09-24)
- newsquawk.com: As of Sept. 23, CENTCOM forces have redirected 115 commercial vessels to maintain strict ... (2026-09-23)
- oilprice.com: Saudi Arabia Sells 100 Million Barrels of Crude to Asia via Hormuz - OilPrice.com (2026-09-24)
- scmp.com: Indian sailor killed in attack on vessel in Hormuz, India and Oman authorities say (2026-09-24)
- abcnews.com: Gulf nations have found ways to keep oil flowing - ABC News (2026-09-24)
- semafor.com: Hormuz disruption will lead to ‘structural shift’, Shell Foundation CEO says (2026-09-22)