Overview
- ADNOC Logistics & Services’ tanker Al Hamra loaded at Abu Dhabi’s Das Island and exited the Strait of Hormuz bound for western India, a movement reported by Bloomberg on May 24 that marks the first Gulf-to-India LNG cargo since the war began.
- Operators have been turning off public ship trackers and relying on satellite imagery and private analytics to carry out 'dark' transits that hide vessel positions for crew safety and to reduce detection.
- Those covert deliveries remain tiny compared with pre-war traffic when roughly three LNG tankers left Hormuz daily, and current Gulf exports continue at only a fraction of normal volumes.
- The cut in regular Gulf flows has pushed India onto costly spot markets and forced some industrial curbs, so limited Gulf shipments may ease near-term supply pressure without restoring steady volumes or lowering freight and war-risk insurance.
- Iran’s checkpoints and de facto transit controls have prompted Gulf producers to pursue overland pipelines and bypass routes, and analysts say full maritime normalization is likely to take months with continued economic strain for importers and seafarers.