CMA CGM, Maersk, Nippon Yusen, Mitsui, and Kawasaki Kisen have halted all transits through the strait of Hormuz. They join Hapag-Lloyd, which suspended operations within hours of the IRGC's VHF Channel 16 broadcast declaring the strait closed to shipping. Six of the world's largest shipping companies — controlling roughly half of global container capacity — now refuse to send vessels through the passage that carries approximately 20% of the world's traded oil.
The suspensions followed three direct attacks on commercial tankers near the strait: the MV Skylight struck off Oman with four crew injured, the MKD Vyom hit by a projectile that ignited an engine room fire, and the Sea La Donna, details still pending. Oil tankers had already begun avoiding the strait after the opening strikes. The physical attacks converted commercial caution into a full shutdown. Vessel traffic has fallen 70%, with more than 150 tankers anchored in open Gulf waters.
The last sustained military campaign against commercial shipping in these waters was the 1984–88 Tanker War during the Iran-Iraq conflict, which struck 546 vessels over four years. Three have been hit here in 72 hours. When Houthi attacks disrupted Red Sea shipping in 2024, carriers rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope — costly, but viable. the strait of Hormuz has no such bypass. Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline and the UAE's Habshan-Fujairah pipeline provide limited overland alternatives, but their combined capacity covers a fraction of normal seaborne Gulf exports.
Every day of closure tightens supply across refineries in Asia and Europe that depend on Gulf crude. Brent opened Saturday at $82.37 , up from the pre-strike price of $73. Goldman Sachs projected a peak of $110 per barrel; JP Morgan forecast $120–130 if the conflict is prolonged and raised its US recession probability to 35% . With commercial vessels now under direct fire rather than merely pausing, the prolonged-conflict scenario is the one unfolding.
