Overview
- Commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz has collapsed for most ships, with transits down by more than 90 percent and hundreds of vessels and roughly 20,000 seafarers stuck in the Gulf as insurance costs surge.
- Fujairah and Khor Fakkan on the UAE’s east coast have taken over as primary gateways, with ADCOP’s Habshan–Fujairah pipeline running near capacity and crude exports from Fujairah rising to about 1.62 million barrels per day.
- Khor Fakkan has pivoted from a transshipment stop to a national gateway, with weekly containers jumping to about 50,000 and daily truck moves rising from roughly 100 to about 7,000, though both ports face congestion.
- The ports’ vulnerability was underscored after Monday’s drone strike ignited a fire at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, as Iran’s Guards published a map claiming expanded control near the UAE coastline and officials in the Emirates vowed to protect trade.
- U.S. Navy escorts enabled two U.S.-flagged ships to cross while the mission was later paused, India reported IRGC fire on two of its vessels in April yet facilitated limited LPG transits, and alternative pipelines such as Saudi Arabia’s East–West line continue to flow even as regional oil exports have fallen from roughly 20 million to about 10 million barrels per day.