The surge in costs reflects a desperate scramble for tonnage as few shipowners are prepared to accept the risks associated with the conflict zone. This bottleneck has forced producers into a costly logistical workaround: shuttling crude through the strait before offloading cargoes onto secondary tankers for the journey to Asia. This dual-freight structure has pushed total transit costs to an estimated $20 million per shipment, according to TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne.

Market pressure is compounded by the ongoing Houthi disruption in the Red Sea, which forces tankers to bypass the Suez Canal entirely. Redirecting shipments around Africa adds nearly 30 days to the voyage, further tightening the global supply of available vessels. Even outside the immediate vicinity of the strait, rates for routes from Oman to China have climbed to $220,000 per day. While traders estimate that outflows through Hormuz now reach up to 8 million barrels per day, the logistical toll of securing transport remains a primary barrier to stabilizing global oil markets.