Strait of Hormuz Ship Traffic — April 2026
In April 2026, the monitor detected 401 vessel crossings of the Strait of Hormuz — 258 outbound toward the Gulf of Oman and 143 inbound toward the Persian Gulf. 49 of the outbound transits were crude, product or chemical tankers, together carrying an estimated 32.9 million barrels (deadweight × 95% load × 7.33 bbl/t — an AIS-derived lower bound; see methodology). The busiest day was 2026-04-18 with 38 crossings.
April 2026 in review
Averaged over the 30 days, that is 13.4 detected crossings and 1.10 million barrels of oil a day — about 5% of the roughly 20 million barrels a day that moved through the strait before the 2026 war. Compared with March 2026, detected crossings were up 186% and estimated oil outflow was up 109%. Bulk Carrier vessels made up the largest share of crossings (18%), followed by Cargo at 14%. The largest tanker to leave the Gulf was HE RONG HAI (320,805 DWT) on 2026-04-11. For the wider arc, read the six-month shipping timeline; for what replaced the missing barrels, see Supply & Demand and Oil Storage.
Crossings by vessel type
| Vessel type | Crossings |
|---|---|
| Bulk Carrier | 73 |
| Cargo | 55 |
| Oil/Chemical Tanker | 38 |
| Crude Oil Tanker | 32 |
| General Cargo | 30 |
| Container Ship | 30 |
| LPG Tanker | 29 |
| Landing Craft | 21 |
| LPG/Chemical Tanker | 15 |
| Oil Products Tanker | 14 |
Largest tankers to exit the Gulf in April 2026
| Vessel | Class | DWT | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| HE RONG HAI | Crude Oil Tanker | 320,805 | 2026-04-11 |
| HABRUT | Crude Oil Tanker | 319,439 | 2026-04-03 |
| SERIFOS | Crude Oil Tanker | 309,396 | 2026-04-11 |
| SANMAR HERALD | Crude Oil Tanker | 309,000 | 2026-04-10 |
| FPMC C LORD | Crude Oil Tanker | 301,861 | 2026-04-18 |