Vessels trickle through Strait of Hormuz as Mideast tension persists

By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A dozen commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on the weekend, down from 35 the prior weekend, shipping data showed on Monday, as tension in the Gulf persisted with the US and Iran in stalemate.

Visible traffic through the strait, the conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas before the war, has dwindled to a trickle, however Middle Eastern producers continue to export oil on tankers travelling with their transponders off.

Among trackable ships, four vessels — two tankers carrying refined oil products and two empty carriers for bulk goods and gas — exited the strait on Sunday, while another two small-sized oil tankers entered the Gulf, provisional data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

On Saturday, five vessels left the Gulf carrying agricultural products, liquefied petroleum gas and fertiliser while an empty very large gas carrier entered, the data showed.

Before the US-Israeli war with Iran started on February 28, the strait typically handled about 125 large, commercial vessels per day, including tankers, gas carriers, bulkers and container vessels.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sonali Paul)