Conflict Trackers ·Strait of Hormuz Tensions ·Transits

Strait of Hormuz Ship Transits — Statistics by Year and Month

Overview

Daily commercial ship transits of the Strait of Hormuz — the passage carrying roughly a fifth of the world's petroleum liquids — counted by month and by year since January 2019, from AIS transit calls compiled by IMF PortWatch (tankers plus cargo ships; warships and vessels sailing dark are not counted). The series spans the 2019 tanker war, the grey-zone seizures of the following years and the collapse of commercial traffic after the opening strikes of the 2026 Iran war. Figures are updated as PortWatch publishes, typically weekly with a lag of about ten days.

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2026 so far

5,367

2025

31,218

Single-day record

133Jun 2025

Days tracked

2,820

Monthly Trend Since 2019

commercial ship transits of the Strait of Hormuz per month Complete months only

Every Month Since 2019

commercial ship transits of the Strait of Hormuz per month Darker = busier

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2026	1,812	2,192	99	214	122	388	316	146	78	·	·	·	5,367
2025	2,187	2,069	2,597	3,071	3,192	3,067	2,952	2,930	2,638	2,772	2,021	1,722	31,218
2024	2,258	2,087	2,924	3,011	3,257	3,146	3,196	2,870	3,119	2,791	2,496	2,190	33,345
2023	2,357	2,457	2,689	2,916	3,209	3,061	3,121	3,237	3,072	2,951	2,306	2,323	33,699
2022	2,480	2,634	2,896	3,015	2,968	2,966	2,889	3,203	2,958	3,134	2,544	2,451	34,138
2021	2,054	1,914	2,244	2,586	2,631	2,742	2,663	2,608	2,599	2,504	2,517	2,434	29,496
2020	1,871	1,770	1,785	2,110	2,486	2,572	2,589	2,599	2,669	2,675	1,946	1,864	26,936
2019	1,725	1,661	1,912	2,056	2,339	2,442	2,547	2,452	2,344	2,278	1,693	1,771	25,220

The outlined cell is the current month, still partial; the bold cell is the busiest month on record. Shading is scaled to the busiest complete month.

Peak Months on Record

Busiest months on record

Month	Transits	Context
May 2024	3,257	—
August 2023	3,237	—
May 2023	3,209	—
August 2022	3,203	—
July 2024	3,196	—
May 2025	3,192	—

For this series incidents suppress activity rather than drive it — the busiest months mark calm periods, so no incident context is implied.

Totals by Year

Transits per year Partial years marked

Yearly breakdown

Year	Total	Daily avg	Peak day
2026 · partial	5,367	20.4	127 · 22 Feb
2025	31,218	85.5	133 · 9 Jun
2024	33,345	91.1	131 · 2 Jul
2023	33,699	92.3	131 · 16 Feb
2022	34,138	93.5	125 · 19 Aug
2021	29,496	80.8	115 · 9 Apr
2020	26,936	73.6	117 · 15 Aug
2019	25,220	69.1	103 · 6 Jul

219,419 transits recorded in total since January 2019

Reading the Numbers

2026 has recorded 5,367 transits through September 20 — 77% below the 23,796 logged by the same point of 2025.

The busiest month on record is May 2024 with 3,257 transits.

The quietest month on record is March 2026 with 99 transits. It came in the wake of a logged incident: US opening strikes destroy Iran's fleet at Bandar Abbas as Hormuz transits collapse.

The single-day record — 133 transits on June 9, 2025 — compares with an all-time daily average of 77.8.

The longest pause is 4 consecutive days without a single reported entry, starting May 5, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many commercial ship transits of the Strait of Hormuz were recorded in 2026?

5,367 transits were recorded between January 1 and September 20, 2026, an average of 20.4 per day. The full-year total for 2025 was 31,218.

What is the record for commercial ship transits of the Strait of Hormuz in a single day?

The single-day record is 133, set on June 9, 2025.

How often does this activity occur?

Activity was reported on 2,808 of the 2,820 days tracked (100% of days), for 219,419 transits in total since January 2019.

Transit figures are AIS-derived estimates published by IMF PortWatch, typically weekly with a lag of about ten days — the newest days may not yet appear, and published days are occasionally revised. Counts cover commercial vessels only; ships sailing with transponders off are invisible to the series. Incidents from public news reports. Sources: Kpler; UN Global Platform; IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org).
Sources: IMF PortWatch · Kpler · UN Global Platform · UK Maritime Trade Operations