This Strait of Hormuz ship live tracker combines a real-time vessel map with a running record of the 2026 crisis: daily transit counts, every confirmed tanker incident, war-risk insurance levels and the status of each shipping corridor. The live map below is drawn directly from public AIS vessel data. The status figures and incident log beneath it are compiled from IMF PortWatch, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the International Maritime Organization and government sources, and are dated to the moment each was recorded.

As of 28 July 2026, the strait is effectively closed to normal commercial shipping. Only a handful of vessels are transiting each day under heightened risk, against a pre-crisis norm of well over one hundred.

Current Status at a Glance

A plain-text snapshot. Each figure carries the date and source it was recorded from. These are not live; the embedded map below is.

Live Ship Tracker Map

This is the strait of Hormuz live ship tracker. The map streams real-time AIS vessel positions from a third-party provider and is not hosted or verified by us. Vessel positions can be delayed, and some ships switch off or spoof their AIS transponders, so the map may not show every vessel in the strait.

[EMBED: MarineTraffic or VesselFinder live map iframe, centred on the Strait of Hormuz]

Suggested centre: 26.5665° N, 56.2500° E · Zoom to show Bandar Abbas to Fujairah

For an authoritative daily transit count rather than a live snapshot, the IMF PortWatch platform publishes a seven-day moving average of transit calls through the strait. It is the figure most analysts and prediction markets treat as the benchmark for whether the strait is functionally open.

IMPLEMENTATION NOTE. MarineTraffic and VesselFinder both offer embeddable map iframes; confirm the current embed terms and whether attribution or a paid tier is required before going live. Do not screenshot a live map and present it as current, that is the exact intent mismatch this page is built to avoid. If no compliant live embed is available, replace this section with a labelled link out to the provider and reposition the page as a status-and-incident tracker in the title.

What Changed This Week

Newest first. Each entry links to its primary source.

23 July 2026 — Transit count near standstill: IMF PortWatch recorded roughly 10 vessels transiting on 23 July, against a pre-crisis norm of around 88 a day. War-risk insurance for Hormuz voyages sat at 7.5% to 10% of hull value, a broker at Marsh told S&P Global on 22 July.

17 July 2026 — Two UAE supertankers struck: Iranian cruise missiles hit the Mombasa and Al Bahyah, both operated by Adnoc Logistics and Services, in the southern strait. One sailor was killed and eight injured.

13–20 July 2026 — Eight ships hit in a week: The International Maritime Organization documented eight vessels struck between 13 and 20 July as Iran stepped up attacks on ships using the Omani-waters route.

10 July 2026 — US-coordinated route grinds to a halt: Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported no vessel above 10,000 dwt had crossed the US-coordinated southern lane with its AIS switched on since 7 July, though at least two were believed to have crossed dark.

7 July 2026 — Ceasefire collapses; laden tankers hit: The IRGC struck two laden tankers on the approved outbound route, including the Qatari LNG carrier Al Rekayyat and a Saudi-owned ULCC, both running dark. Six vessels rerouted from the southern corridor to the central corridor, and one LNG tanker anchored mid-strait.

17 June 2026 — US and Iran sign a memorandum: Both sides signed an MoU to open a 60-day negotiation window. Traffic and oil prices partially stabilised through late June before hostilities resumed in the second week of July.

28 February 2026 — Crisis begins: A US-Israeli air war on Iran, and the assassination of Ali Khamenei, triggered Iranian retaliation and a near-total blockade of the strait. This is the start date of the current crisis.

Watch Dates

VERIFY. Confirm the exact expiry date tied to the 17 June MoU before publishing the 16 August entry.

Incident Log

Confirmed vessel incidents in the 2026 crisis, newest first. Names and details must be checked against a primary maritime source before publishing do not list an unverified strike.

VERIFY. This log is partial. Multiple sources reference between nine and seventeen damaged vessels across the full crisis, but vessel-level confirmation varies. Only add a row when a named vessel is confirmed by a maritime authority or established outlet. Mark anything from Iranian state claims or single-source reports as unconfirmed.

War-Risk and Freight Indicators

War-risk insurance is the earliest financial signal of a Hormuz crisis, often moving before oil prices fully adjust. Standard marine hull and cargo policies exclude war, mines and military action, so owners must buy separate war-risk cover to enter the strait, priced as a percentage of the vessel’s insured value.

Before the crisis, that premium ran around 0.25% of hull value. By 22 July 2026 it had reached 7.5% to 10%. For a tanker insured at $100 million, war-risk cover that once cost roughly $250,000 per voyage now runs $3 million to $10 million per transit. Brokers have warned that if attacks persist, underwriters may withdraw spot cover altogether and when a ship cannot get insured at any price, it does not sail.

These costs cascade. Higher premiums lift tanker freight rates, which feed refinery input costs and logistics, and reach consumers as higher fuel prices within weeks.

Shipping Corridors Explained

Traffic through the strait has been forced onto a small number of controlled routes.

Southern corridor (the “Southern Highway”). The Oman-hugging lane was sustained through much of the crisis by US military escort under Project Freedom. Traceable transits on this route effectively stopped after 7 July, when tankers stopped broadcasting AIS.

Central corridor. Where several vessels rerouted after the 7 July strikes on the southern route.

Northern corridor. A narrow lane along the Iranian coast, used earlier in the crisis by vessels moving under IRGC supervision — largely Iranian-linked, dark-fleet, or ships flying flags Tehran treats as non-hostile.

For the full background on why this waterway matters and how a closure moves global energy prices, see the explainer linked below.

Methodology and Sources

This strait of hormuz tracker separates two kinds of information. The live map streams third-party AIS data in real time and is labelled as such. Everything else transit counts, incidents, insurance levels, corridor status is compiled from named sources and dated to when it was recorded, then re-checked on every review.

Transit counts are taken from IMF PortWatch, which most analysts treat as the benchmark. AIS-based transit observations are cross-checked against Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Incident confirmations come from the International Maritime Organization and established maritime outlets. Insurance figures come from named brokers via S&P Global Commodity Insights. Where a claim originates with Iranian authorities or a single source, it is labelled unconfirmed.

The page is reviewed after every significant event: a confirmed strike, a corridor status change, an insurance repricing, or a diplomatic development. The Last Updated timestamp changes only when the content itself changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Strait of Hormuz open right now? 

As of 28 July 2026 it is effectively closed to normal commercial shipping. A small number of vessels transit each day under heightened risk, against a pre-crisis norm of well over one hundred. The clearest single measure is the IMF PortWatch daily transit count shown above.

How does this live ship tracker get its data? 

The map streams real-time AIS positions from a third-party provider. AIS is the automatic identification system ships broadcast to share their position. It can be delayed, and some vessels switch it off or spoof it during a crisis, so the map is a strong indicator but not a complete picture.

Why do some ships disappear from the map? 

Vessels transiting a contested strait often run “dark” they turn off their AIS transponder to avoid being targeted or tracked. Lloyd’s List has reported ships crossing the strait dark since 7 July. A quieter map does not always mean a quieter strait.

How many ships normally pass through the strait? 

Before the crisis, well over one hundred vessels a day transited, with some estimates around 178. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally moves through this one chokepoint.

Why did war-risk insurance jump so much? 

War-risk cover is priced on the probability a ship is hit. As Iranian attacks on tankers resumed, that probability rose sharply, pushing premiums from around 0.25% of hull value before the crisis to 7.5%–10% by late July 2026.

When did the 2026 crisis start? 

On 28 February 2026, when a US-Israeli air war on Iran and the assassination of Ali Khamenei triggered Iranian retaliation and a near-total blockade of the strait.

Will this affect fuel prices where I live? 

Higher shipping and insurance costs feed into refinery inputs and reach consumers as higher fuel prices, typically within weeks of a sustained disruption. The size of the effect depends on your region’s exposure to Gulf crude and how long the disruption lasts.

Sources & References

Wikipedia — “2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis.” Background and timeline, accessed 28 Jul 2026. Use for orientation only; follow through to its primary citations.

IMF PortWatch — daily and 7-day moving-average transit calls through the Strait of Hormuz. Accessed 28 Jul 2026.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence, via Al Jazeera — “Strait of Hormuz traffic plunges as US, Iran resume fighting.” 10 Jul 2026.

NBC News — “Track Strait of Hormuz ship traffic.” Updated 21 Jul 2026.

Statista / IMF PortWatch — “June and July Saw Moderate Ship Traffic in Strait of Hormuz.” Jul 2026.

The National — “Shipping insurance surges again as attacks intensify over Strait of Hormuz.” 17 Jul 2026.

IndexBox, citing Marsh via S&P Global (Platts) — Hormuz war-risk premiums at 7.5%–10% of hull value. 22 Jul 2026.

Al Jazeera — “How shipping insurance rates are rising, as Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb shut down.” 23 Jul 2026.

World Economic Forum — “What stopping war-risk insurance in the Strait of Hormuz tells us.” Apr 2026.

International Maritime Organization — vessel strike documentation, 13–20 Jul 2026; seafarer evacuation updates.

HSToday, citing Windward — “Iran Conflict Maritime Update: Ceasefire Collapses.” Jul 2026.