Kharg Island Quiet, But Gulf Oil Still Flows Through Hormuz

Kharg Island Loading Halts, But Oil Flow Continues Elsewhere

Iran’s main oil export terminal at Kharg Island has gone silent for over a week, marking what appears to be the most complete shutdown of loading activity there since the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict began in late February. According to a report by The Maritime Executive, citing analysis from maritime tracking firm Windward, this suggests the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports is achieving its intended disruption.

Windward’s tracking shows all three terminals at Kharg Island — eastern, western, and the LPG berth — have been empty for days. The eastern terminal last saw a tanker on July 30, the western terminal on July 18, and the LPG terminal since July 27. Data from Vortexa corroborates that no shipments have left the terminal since before July 31. Roughly 17 tankers remain idle at anchor nearby, with no cargo movement detected.

Hormuz Traffic Persists at Reduced Volume

Despite the quiet at Kharg Island, vessel movement through the Strait of Hormuz has not stopped. Windward recorded eight inbound and nine outbound vessels transiting the strait on August 8, including one Iranian-flagged ship. Nearly all of these vessels used the Iranian-controlled northern passage rather than the Omani/American route to the south.

Figures from Kpler and Commodity Context put current oil flow out of Hormuz at roughly 4-5 million barrels per day — below normal levels, reflecting ongoing risk from both Iranian threats to neutral shipping and U.S. pressure on Iranian vessels.

The Shuttle Trade Keeping Oil Moving

Much of the traffic passing through Hormuz appears to involve repeat voyages rather than fresh cargo from Kharg Island. TankerTrackers.com identified a fleet of at least 56 tankers running a shuttle operation between GCC nations and a ship-to-ship transfer zone in the Gulf of Oman, where cargo is moved onto other vessels bound for international markets. This AIS-dark fleet’s scale underscores how central this workaround has become to sustaining Gulf oil exports despite elevated risk in contested waters.

Elsewhere in the region, activity at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port continues despite an ongoing Houthi blockade, with satellite imagery reportedly showing seven tankers at berth on August 8 — most operating without AIS signals. Chinese vessels also continue transiting the Bab el-Mandeb strait without Houthi interference, a pattern that has held since the previous month.

What This Means for Owners and Charterers

For ship owners, managers, and charterers with exposure to Gulf trades, this pattern signals that the underlying oil trade is adapting around chokepoints rather than stopping. The rise of a large AIS-dark shuttle fleet operating STS transfers in the Gulf of Oman is particularly notable: vessels going dark and engaging in ship-to-ship transfers raise real questions about cargo provenance, condition, and quantity verification. Charterers and buyers relying on cargo that has passed through undocumented transfer legs have less assurance about quality, quantity, and contamination risk than they would with a direct, transparently tracked loading.

This is precisely the kind of environment where independent bunker surveys, cargo quantity verification, and condition inspections carry outsized value. When vessels are shuttling cargo through unofficial STS operations in contested waters, third-party surveys become one of the few reliable checks against disputes over quantity discrepancies, quality claims, or contractual non-conformity down the line. Owners chartering into or out of these trades should also weigh the operational and insurance implications of AIS-dark voyages, particularly around P&I cover and war-risk exclusions tied to transparency requirements.

The broader picture suggests that while political and military pressure has succeeded in halting formal loading at Kharg Island, the physical oil trade has simply shifted into a shadow logistics network. For the shipping industry, that raises fresh questions about traceability, safety, and the practical limits of sanctions enforcement at sea.

Reviewed by Ibrahim Halil Ceylan, Marine Surveyor at Apeks Marine.