Hormuz transits fall to 16 ships on Aug. 11 as US Navy fires on Iran-bound container ship

The number of ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz fell to 16 on Aug. 11 when US Central Command said the US Navy had attacked a container ship, with the UK Maritime Trade Operations noting an incident between a container ship and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, S&P Global Commodities at Sea said in a report Aug. 12.

Transits on Aug. 11 compared with a revised 17 ships on Aug. 10, while 36 ships traversed the Bab al-Mandab Strait leading into the Red Sea, down from 40 ships on Aug. 10, according to the report.

A US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged Vela Nova container ship on Aug. 11 that was heading for Iran in violation of the US blockade against Iranian ports, CENTCOM said on X on Aug. 11. The ship sailed from Jawaharlal Nehru Port in India on Aug. 6 and was heading inbound toward the Gulf of Oman, and was last seen displaying a "not under command" status, CAS said.

Vela Nova's ship manager, Golden Valley Marine Investment in China, did not respond to a request for comment outside its business hours.

US forces have redirected 55 commercial ships attempting to run the blockade since it began in mid-July, disabled three others and boarded two ships, CENTCOM said in the X statement. Total crossings through the US naval blockade line on Aug. 11 increased to 60 ships from 50 ships on Aug. 10, according to the CAS report.

The Hormuz traffic on Aug. 11 included the VLCC Vadin that was headed out of the Gulf into Hormuz after loading a cargo of Al Rayyan crude at Qatar on Aug. 10, while the LR1 tanker Mezaira'a also left the Gulf after loading refined products at Sharjah, UAE, CAS said. ADNOC's MR tanker New Future crossed inbound into the Gulf heading for Khor Al Zubair, Iraq, CAS said. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said it doesn't comment on individual ship movements.