After U.S.-Iran fighting resumed, several ships have completed dark transits of
the Strait of Hormuz by switching off AIS transponders while visible traffic has
fallen sharply. Bloomberg-cited Kpler preliminary data show six bulk commodity
carriers that crossed the strait last Sunday had AIS turned off. Over the past
three days dark transits outnumbered visible passages; AIS tracking showed no
recorded transits early Monday. Some vessels reappeared on both sides of the
strait after last publicly reporting positions on the opposite side, consistent
with transit with AIS disabled. Visible passage along the southern Oman-coast
route has effectively stopped since last Wednesday; Iran-designated northern
safety corridor still saw a small number of vessels through last Saturday. Iran
has recently attacked ships using the Oman route, including vessels that had
switched off transponders, which appears to have reduced activity on that
corridor.
