Article

2026-04-27 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

The Times: 600 large commercial vessels remain in the Strait of Hormuz

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] More than 600 large commercial vessels are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz due to the conflict in the Middle East. This was reported by The Times on April 26.

The authors noted that Iran is sending vessels with transit permits through its territorial waters near Larak Island, separating the flows—ships flying the flags of countries loyal to the United States and Israel go separately, and the rest go separately.

"Dividing trade along geopolitical lines and saying that some ships can pass through these waters and others cannot sets a very dangerous precedent for freedom of navigation and therefore for world trade," said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of maritime publication Lloyd's List.

The article states that the US blockade of Iranian ships and ports threatens the country's oil revenues, which account for approximately half of its budget. Furthermore, the authors point out, Iran charges tolls for passage through the strait—between $200,000 and $2 million in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan for safe transit, which replenishes its coffers.

Iran announced a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shortly after the US and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic in late February. The blockade disrupted energy and other supplies from the Persian Gulf states. The strait previously handled approximately 20% of global oil supplies and approximately 30% of liquefied natural gas shipments.

After the US concluded a two-week ceasefire with Iran on April 8, the Iranian government temporarily opened the strait to commercial shipping. On April 12, following the collapse of negotiations, US President Donald Trump announced a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The Iranian Foreign Ministry threatened to close the strait if the US did not end the blockade. Trump responded that the US had no intention of backing down. Iran subsequently reimposed military control of the strait.

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Posted by badanov 2026-04-27 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1850 views ] Top

1 Each day a vessel doesn't move it incurs costs. There are fixed costs (crew wages, insurance, ongoing maintenance, interest on the loan for the ship). There are opportunity costs (in addition to loss of revenue, there is the sacrifice of income that could have been generated in that down time). There are penalty costs - demurrage, failure to deliver the cargo in a timely manner. Then there are the costs to the charterer, the consignee, the shipper (if they don't have FAS or FOB terms terms), the distribution vendor at destination and ultimately the end user.

If those costs are conservatively $100,000 per day per vessel then 600 ships times 40 days is looking like $2.4b in sunk costs for the war thus far. That figure doesn't include the cost of ships outside the Gulf diverting to other routings and other serendipity expenses.

Note my observations are based on the impact of dwell time when moving air freight. I did work boats briefly in Rotterdam & Livorno a LONG time ago but the basic cost factors haven't changed a lot since then although the numbers have.

Posted by Clem+Elmish4239 2026-04-27 04:47|| 2026-04-27 04:47|| Front Page Top

2 Interesting factoid. Thanks Clem.

Posted by Besoeker 2026-04-27 04:48|| 2026-04-27 04:48|| Front Page Top

3 Except I dropped a place in my math - it's "only" 2.4 billion dollars in sunk costs. Note this is the cost to the shipowners and charterers - not to the owners of the inbound / outbound cargo.

Posted by Clem+Elmish4239 2026-04-27 04:53|| 2026-04-27 04:53|| Front Page Top

4 Oh well, The powers that be will figure out a way to gouge us anyway. Fuck their cost

Posted by chris 2026-04-27 05:39|| 2026-04-27 05:39|| Front Page Top

5 Hormuz crisis spurs $24B Iraq trade corridor as Gulf routes shift

Posted by Skidmark 2026-04-27 07:25|| 2026-04-27 07:25|| Front Page Top

6 #3 - Fixed

Posted by Frank G 2026-04-27 08:54|| 2026-04-27 08:54|| Front Page Top

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