Even After a Strait of Hormuz Deal, Moving 1,500 Ships Won’t Be Easy

When the Strait of Hormuz finally reopens, shipping companies will need to know which oil tankers get to start moving first, and whom to ask for the go-ahead. Vessels will need guidance on routes. And there’s the question of the potential threat of mines in the strait.

The United States and Iran are moving closer to securing a deal to reopen the strait, and captains aboard the roughly 1,500 ships that have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for nearly three months are getting ready.

But a lot has to happen before they can start moving through the narrow and vital waterway, which carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas before the war with Iran.

Even if a final deal is reached, the prewar status quo, when upward of 130 ships transited the strait each day, will be perhaps weeks or even months away. That is also one reason that energy prices, which have climbed in the United States and around the world, are not expected to fall fast.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/business/iran-strait-hormuz-shipping-traffic.html