Strait of Hormuz Ship Traffic — October 2026
In October 2026, the monitor detected 258 vessel crossings of the Strait of Hormuz — 133 outbound toward the Gulf of Oman and 125 inbound toward the Persian Gulf. 17 of the outbound transits were crude, product or chemical tankers, together carrying an estimated 11.0 million barrels (deadweight × 95% load × 7.33 bbl/t — an AIS-derived lower bound; see methodology). The busiest day was 2026-10-05 with 28 crossings.
October 2026 in review
Averaged over the 14 days recorded so far, that is 18.4 detected crossings and 0.79 million barrels of oil a day — about 4% of the roughly 20 million barrels a day that moved through the strait before the 2026 war. Against September 2026's daily average, the detected crossing rate is down 4% and the oil rate is down 28%. Bulk Carrier vessels made up the largest share of crossings (23%), followed by Cargo at 16%. The largest tanker to leave the Gulf was FRONT OTRA (306,000 DWT) on 2026-10-11. 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 | 59 |
| Cargo | 40 |
| General Cargo | 22 |
| Oil/Chemical Tanker | 20 |
| Crude Oil Tanker | 17 |
| Landing Craft | 16 |
| LPG Tanker | 13 |
| Container Ship | 10 |
| Service Vessel | 9 |
| Oil Products Tanker | 6 |
Largest tankers to exit the Gulf in October 2026
| Vessel | Class | DWT | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRONT OTRA | Crude Oil Tanker | 306,000 | 2026-10-11 |
| BEETA | Crude Oil Tanker | 281,395 | 2026-10-11 |
| SPONDE | Crude Oil Tanker | 158,493 | 2026-10-06 |
| GOL | Crude Oil Tanker | 158,425 | 2026-10-09 |
| OTTOMAN EQUITY | Crude Oil Tanker | 149,999 | 2026-10-13 |