23APR

Hormuz transits crash to three as blackout extends

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08:02UTC

Windward logged only three Hormuz transits on 19 April, the lowest since the blockade began, alongside seven Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) clustered near Chabahar with combined 14 million barrel capacity. The International Maritime Organization estimates roughly 20,000 mariners and 2,000 ships stranded in the Persian Gulf, with Iran's internet blackout passing 1,296 hours at 1-4 per cent of normal connectivity.

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Key takeaway

Three transits, seven anchored VLCCs, 20,000 stranded mariners and a 1,296-hour blackout mark the operational floor of Day 54.

Windward's maritime intelligence platform logged only three transits through the Strait of Hormuz on 19 April, the lowest daily count since the 13 April blockade began, alongside seven Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) clustered near Chabahar with combined 14 million barrel capacity ¹. The transit floor fell the same day the USS Spruance interdicted the Touska , and continues the cluster pattern Windward documented on 20 April .

The International Maritime Organization estimates roughly 20,000 mariners and 2,000 ships stranded inside the Persian Gulf ². That is the concrete population IMO Secretary-General Dominguez's 17 April UNCLOS invocation was written to cover , and it is the fleet European officers at Northwood are now planning to escort home once a ceasefire trigger fires.

Iran's internet blackout passed 1,296 cumulative hours on Day 54 at roughly 1-4 per cent of normal connectivity ³, extending the 1,224-hour total recorded on Day 52 . The blackout is the longest sustained conflict-era internet restriction in modern history, and it continues even as Araghchi's Foreign Ministry tries to produce a unified Iranian position abroad through diplomats whose own population cannot see what they are negotiating.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Windward is a maritime intelligence firm that tracks ship movements using satellite data and AIS transponder signals. On 19 April it counted only three ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, against a normal pre-war daily average of around 135. That is roughly 2% of normal traffic. Seven very large tankers, each capable of carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, were waiting near the Iranian port of Chabahar rather than attempting the strait. Together they represent roughly 14 million barrels of oil sitting idle at sea. The IMO, which is the UN body that oversees international shipping rules, estimates around 20,000 sailors and 2,000 ships are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf with no safe route out. These are people unable to return home, on ships whose owners are paying full operating costs with zero income.

Sources:Windward·GlobalSecurity.org

Mentions:Iran →VLCC →Persian Gulf →Strait of Hormuz →Northwood →USS Spruance →Touska →Strait of Hormuz Toll System →Ministry of External Affairs (India) →Abbas Araghchi →Arsenio Dominguez →International Maritime Organization →Chabahar →Windward →

First Reported In

Update #77 · Pentagon: six months to clear Hormuz mines

Windward· 23 Apr 2026

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