Visible Crude Loadings Halt, Iran’s Empty Tankers Remain Idle Since September

Iran-linked tankers in the Middle East Gulf and beyond, October 28, 2026, showing spare capacity inside the Gulf, the six-week gap in AIS-reported loadings, and the near-empty floating storage outside it. Source: Windward Maritime AI Platform.

No Iran-affiliated tanker still transmitting AIS in the Middle East Gulf has shown a draft change indicative of loading since September 17. Before then, MIOC detected only seven AIS-transmitting tankers loading almost 6 million barrels between July 27 and September 17, a pace of around 113,000 barrels per day.

Satellite imagery points the same way. Automated detection over Kharg Island from September 18 to November 1 found no dark tanker at either of the island’s loading terminals. Dark vessels are holding the same nine positions in the anchorage east of Kharg Island, where tankers wait to load at Kharg.

Windward data shows 47 tankers in the Middle East Gulf that are owned by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) or the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), fly Iran’s flag, or have made Iranian port calls in 2026. Only 25 of them still broadcast AIS, and 22 are dark, 14 of them since the blockade began. The figures that follow describe only the 25 tankers still transmitting, not Iran’s entire commercial tanker fleet.

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