Increase in ships transiting Strait of Hormuz

At least 10 commercial vessels were tracked transiting the Strait of Hormuz Thursday morning, and six more appear to be heading in the same direction to exit the Persian Gulf.

It’s a noticeable increase in traffic, but still far below the pre-war average of around 135 ships per day moving through the vital waterway, which is the only route in and out of the Gulf.

Among the ships is a French-flagged liquified natural gas (LNG) carrier, Mraikh, which is operated by QatarEnergy. A ship carrying vehicles owned by Italian logistics company Grimaldi Group was also making the crossing, months after dropping off its cargo at Persian Gulf ports. Both ships were among the hundreds stuck in the Persian Gulf since the start of the war, according to data from MarineTraffic.com.

Cargo ships and oil tankers owned by Hong Kong and Chinese companies were still broadcasting that they had Chinese crew on board, a tactic adopted by mariners at the start of the conflict when Iran said it would target ships linked to the U.S. and Israel.

Several sanctioned Iranian tankers that crossed the U.S. naval blockade line earlier in the week were still en route to Iranian ports Wednesday morning.