Strait of Hormuz traffic plunges 84% six months into war, stranding thousands of sailors

Six months into the Middle East war, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely paralyzed, with commodity carrier traffic far below normal and thousands of sailors stranded in the Gulf. Iran blocked the strait on March 1 following joint US-Israeli strikes, causing traffic to plummet to an average of 10 transits per day from 95 in February. A June US-Iran agreement briefly raised transits to 36 daily before they fell to 15 after hostilities resumed on July 8. Approximately 6,000 sailors and 500 ships remain stuck, according to the International Maritime Organization. Two-thirds of transits are now "dark" with unconfirmed routes, and at least 20 sailors and dockworkers have been killed in the region over the past six months.