The question
How many ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz today?
The answer
4
transits on 4 Oct 2026 · latest published day · IMF PortWatch · provisional
4 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on 4 Oct 2026, the most recent day published by IMF PortWatch, against a pre-crisis normal of roughly 85 per day. The count is total two-way transits detected by satellite AIS tracking; it is published weekly, usually on Tuesday, on about a two-day lag, so the newest Hormuz day is typically about two to nine days old. The newest day is provisional and may still be revised, in either direction, on the next weekly publish.
Total transits, both directions.
The numbers on this page are daily vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz as detected by satellite AIS transponder tracking and aggregated by IMF PortWatch, the same series the major prediction markets settle their reopening contracts on. Each figure is the total for that calendar day, inbound and outbound combined. IMF publishes weekly, usually on Tuesday, on about a two-day lag, so the newest Hormuz day is typically about two to nine days old, and it can still revise the newest day or two on the next publish, in either direction. Revisions have run down more often than up. The Hormuz layer used to run about three days further behind its other chokepoints; that gap closed on 2026-08-04.
A directional count, how many vessels left the Gulf versus entered it, is not published by IMF or any other public source. If a search engine or chatbot gives you a daily “vessels that left the Persian Gulf” figure, it is estimating or inventing one, which is why the same question returns different numbers on different days. The same goes for daily counts of Iran-linked cargoes: that tracking exists only inside commercial intelligence firms, so we do not publish it. For live individual ship positions in the strait, which do carry headings, see the vessel manifest.
Day by day.
6 Aug 2026 to 4 Oct 2026Newest day first. The most recent one or two rows are still open to revision, in either direction; IMF has revised more days down than up. Pre-crisis normal is roughly 85 transits per day; the markets’ reopening threshold is a 7-day average of 60.
| Date | Total | Tanker | Cargo | 7-day avg | % of normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Oct | awaiting IMF publish · expected ~13 Oct | ||||
| 6 Oct | awaiting IMF publish · expected ~13 Oct | ||||
| 5 Oct | awaiting IMF publish · expected ~13 Oct | ||||
| 4 Oct | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2.7 | 5% |
| 3 Oct | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2.3 | 2% |
| 2 Oct | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2.6 | 5% |
| 1 Oct | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.4 | 0% |
| 30 Sept | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3.1 | 5% |
| 29 Sept | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.1 | 1% |
| 28 Sept | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3.4 | 5% |
| 27 Sept | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.1 | 1% |
| 26 Sept | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3.1 | 5% |
| 25 Sept | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3.4 | 4% |
| 24 Sept | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4.0 | 6% |
| 23 Sept | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3.7 | 5% |
| 22 Sept | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3.3 | 4% |
| 21 Sept | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3.1 | 2% |
| 20 Sept | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.1 | 1% |
| 19 Sept | 6 | 1 | 5 | 4.1 | 7% |
| 18 Sept | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3.6 | 8% |
| 17 Sept | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3.7 | 4% |
| 16 Sept | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.0 | 1% |
| 15 Sept | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.3 | 2% |
| 14 Sept | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4.9 | 2% |
| 13 Sept | 8 | 1 | 7 | 5.3 | 9% |
| 12 Sept | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5.0 | 2% |
| 11 Sept | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5.0 | 9% |
| 10 Sept | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4.1 | 6% |
| 9 Sept | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3.7 | 4% |
| 8 Sept | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3.7 | 7% |
| 7 Sept | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3.4 | 6% |
| 6 Sept | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3.1 | 7% |
| 5 Sept | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3.1 | 2% |
| 4 Sept | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3.3 | 2% |
| 3 Sept | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 2% |
| 2 Sept | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 | 4% |
| 1 Sept | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4.3 | 5% |
| 31 Aug | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4.3 | 4% |
| 30 Aug | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4.3 | 7% |
| 29 Aug | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3.9 | 4% |
| 28 Aug | 7 | 0 | 7 | 4.4 | 8% |
| 27 Aug | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.0 | 2% |
| 26 Aug | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4.4 | 6% |
| 25 Aug | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4.6 | 5% |
| 24 Aug | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4.9 | 4% |
| 23 Aug | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5.0 | 4% |
| 22 Aug | 7 | 1 | 6 | 4.7 | 8% |
| 21 Aug | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3.9 | 5% |
| 20 Aug | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4.3 | 6% |
| 19 Aug | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4.4 | 7% |
| 18 Aug | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4.0 | 7% |
| 17 Aug | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4.4 | 5% |
| 16 Aug | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.4 | 1% |
| 15 Aug | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.7 | 1% |
| 14 Aug | 7 | 2 | 5 | 6.0 | 8% |
| 13 Aug | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5.9 | 7% |
| 12 Aug | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5.3 | 4% |
| 11 Aug | 9 | 2 | 7 | 5.6 | 11% |
| 10 Aug | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5.3 | 5% |
| 9 Aug | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5.6 | 4% |
| 8 Aug | 10 | 2 | 8 | 5.6 | 12% |
| 7 Aug | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4.9 | 7% |
| 6 Aug | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5.1 | 2% |
7-day avg is the trailing average the reopening markets resolve on; it prints in red while below 60. % of normal compares each day to the pre-crisis median of roughly 85 transits per day. Full history: CSV and JSON downloads.
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Frequently asked.
FAQHow many ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz today?
4 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on 4 Oct 2026, the most recent day published by IMF PortWatch, against a pre-crisis normal of roughly 85 per day. The count is total two-way transits detected by satellite AIS tracking; it is published weekly, usually on Tuesday, on about a two-day lag, so the newest Hormuz day is typically about two to nine days old. The newest day is provisional and may still be revised, in either direction, on the next weekly publish.
How many vessels left the Persian Gulf on a given date?
That exact number is not knowable from public data. IMF PortWatch, the only public daily transit series for the strait, counts total transits in both directions and does not split outbound from inbound. No public source publishes a directional daily count, so any figure claiming to be "vessels that left the Gulf on a date" is an estimate or an invention. The day-by-day totals on this page are the closest verifiable answer.
Why is the latest count several days old?
IMF PortWatch publishes weekly, usually on Tuesday, on about a two-day lag, so the newest Hormuz day is typically about two to nine days old, and the newest day or two can still be revised on the next publish, in either direction. IMF has revised more days down than up. This is the shape of the series, not an outage. The Hormuz layer used to run about three days further behind Suez, Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb and the Cape; that gap closed on 2026-08-04.
What counts as a transit?
One transit is one vessel detected passing through the strait on that calendar day, based on satellite AIS transponder tracking aggregated by IMF PortWatch. Both directions count, and all large commercial classes are included, with tanker and cargo (container, bulk, and general cargo) broken out in the table. A vessel crossing on two different days counts once on each day.
How does current traffic compare to before the crisis?
Before the crisis the strait averaged roughly 85 transits per day. The 7-day average currently reads 2.7 as of 2026-10-04, which is 57.3 below the 60-per-day threshold the major prediction markets use to declare the strait reopened.
Cite this page
Daily Strait of Hormuz vessel transit counts (total, tanker, cargo) from IMF PortWatch satellite AIS aggregation, tabulated by straits.live. Underlying data © IMF PortWatch; cite IMF when republishing. Source: https://straits.live/how-many-ships-passed-through-the-strait-of-hormuz-today
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