U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that approximately 6.5 million barrels of oil per day have transited the strait over the past week under American naval protection. Despite this intervention, physical data from Kpler indicates that Gulf loading activity has plummeted by more than half compared to the previous six weeks. The crude backlog has merely shifted between the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman rather than clearing, as ship-to-ship transfers fail to offset the loss in export capacity.

The volatile security environment continues to reshape maritime logistics. A Japanese-flagged VLCC, the Takamatsu Maru, has diverted to Egypt’s Sidi Kerir terminal, while other vessels, including the Olympic Luck and DHT Gazelle, remain idling without clear destinations. Meanwhile, the strike on two LNG carriers at Egypt's Damietta port has further rattled shipping lanes. With war risk insurance premiums climbing and Iranian interdiction threats looming, the maritime bottleneck remains a primary obstacle for global energy markets, overshadowing the increased traffic counts reported at the Hormuz chokepoint.