U.S. And Israel Strikes on Iran Close Strait of Hormuz, Driving Shipping Costs Higher

A tentative peace deal has been announced to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but global shipping costs and disruptions are still reshaping trade in the months ahead.

“United States President Donald Trump was jubilant when he announced a preliminary deal with Iran to end the war that has brought about the worst energy crisis in modern history and closed the Strait of Hormuz to world shipping”

Al Jazeera

The Conversation says the strait’s closure began on Feb. 28 after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, and it describes traffic through the passage falling from about 100 vessels per day to roughly six at the height of the blockade.

Al Jazeera

The Conversation also reports that more than 1,500 vessels were left waiting to pass through at one point, and it links that backlog to a months-long global energy crisis.

In parallel, Crude Oil Prices Today says the war in the Middle East has upended global shipping by raising bunker fuel costs and forcing shippers to adapt, with vessel operators slapping emergency surcharges due to the price spike of bunker fuels.

Crude Oil Prices Today adds that Maersk introduced, as of March 25, an Emergency Bunker Surcharge (EBS) “in response to notable fluctuations in fuel supply and the additional costs of distribution.”

Even after the announcement of reopening, Al Jazeera reports that marine traffic has not picked up in the narrow, vital waterway, with only seven ships passing through four days after the agreement was announced.

Al Jazeera also says more than 550 ships remain stranded on either side of the strait, and it quotes Svein Ringbakken saying, “it would take months for traffic to be restored to pre-war levels.”

CNBC Al-Arabiya

The Conversation explains that insurance and mines slow the restart, saying war-risk insurance premiums surged from 0.25 per cent of vessel value before the conflict to between three and eight per cent.

The Conversation adds that mine clearance is a prerequisite for insurers to lower premiums again and says that alone could take up to six months, meaning the financial cost of transiting the strait may stay elevated.

Al Jazeera frames the risk as continuing uncertainty, quoting Haider Anjum that “Shipowners need to see actual physical security and stability over a longer period.”

The financial stakes extend beyond oil prices to broader supply chains, as The Conversation describes how the blockade broke container positioning cycles and left loaded containers trapped inside the Persian Gulf while empty containers accumulated at trans-shipment hubs like Colombo.

“The Middle East war has upended global shipping, raising bunker fuel costs, altering trade routes, and forcing shippers and their container cargo customers to adapt to a new reality”

Crude Oil Prices Today

The Conversation says the traffic released from the strait will need berths, cranes, labour and feeder connections at ports including Jebel Ali, Colombo, Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas, where operations are already running at elevated capacity.

Crude Oil Prices Today reports that imports of container cargo volumes jumped at the Port of Los Angeles in May to the second-highest level on record, with loaded imports totaling 449,370 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in May 2026.

Crude Oil Prices Today also says the war has pushed some traders to forgo cargo and ship additional fuel volumes to key bunkering ports outside the Middle East, while vessel operators pass accrued bunker expenses into annual cargo contracts via the Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF).

In parallel, ORF Middle East says cumulative global crude oil supply losses have touched more than a billion barrels since the conflict began on 28 February, and it warns that disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz can cascade across sectors including “powering transport; fuelling industries such as aluminium, petrochemicals, and steel.”