Strait of Hormuz Ship Traffic — April 2026
In April 2026, the monitor detected 406 vessel crossings of the Strait of Hormuz — 264 outbound toward the Gulf of Oman and 142 inbound toward the Persian Gulf. 54 of the outbound transits were crude, product or chemical tankers, together carrying an estimated 37.9 million barrels (deadweight × 95% load × 7.33 bbl/t — an AIS-derived lower bound; see methodology). The busiest day was 2026-04-18 with 37 crossings.
April 2026 in review
Averaged over the 30 days, that is 13.5 detected crossings and 1.26 million barrels of oil a day — about 6% 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 159% and estimated oil outflow was up 60%. Bulk Carrier vessels made up the largest share of crossings (18%), followed by Cargo at 14%. The largest tanker to leave the Gulf was AL SIDDEEQ (323,514 DWT) on 2026-04-01. 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 | 39 |
| Crude Oil Tanker | 35 |
| General Cargo | 30 |
| LPG Tanker | 29 |
| Container Ship | 29 |
| Landing Craft | 21 |
| Oil Products Tanker | 15 |
| LPG/Chemical Tanker | 15 |
Largest tankers to exit the Gulf in April 2026
| Vessel | Class | DWT | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| AL SIDDEEQ | Crude Oil Tanker | 323,514 | 2026-04-01 |
| HE RONG HAI | Crude Oil Tanker | 320,805 | 2026-04-11 |
| HABRUT | Crude Oil Tanker | 319,439 | 2026-04-03 |
| AL YARMOUK | Crude Oil Tanker | 317,033 | 2026-04-02 |
| SERIFOS | Crude Oil Tanker | 309,396 | 2026-04-11 |