Skip to content

Wednesday, May. 13, 2026

Has the number of trading ships officially crossing the Strait of Hormuz fallen by around 90% since the start of the Iran War?

Gabriel Vinocur, Econofact
yes

The IMF’s PortWatch reports a daily average of 12 ships arriving at Hormuz ports in the week beginning on April 12th. This was 88% lower than the daily average of 103 arrivals in the week before the Iran War, but higher than the daily average of three arrivals before the April 8, 2026, ceasefire. These figures reflect trading ships, not all vessels (such as support craft or local fishing boats), in which case the pre-war average was 140 ships a day. 

The decline reported by PortWatch is likely overstated since several ships have turned off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) either because they were Iranian vessels or in an effort to avoid detection. Since the US-imposed blockade on April 13th, the US Navy has stopped multiple, though not all, tankers carrying Iranian oil.  

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

See all fact briefs

EconoFact is a non-partisan publication designed to bring key facts and incisive analysis to the national debate on economic and social policies. Launched in January 2017, it is written by leading academic economists from across the country who belong to the EconoFact Network. It is published by the Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.