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

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.

Of those 25, 15 (60%) appear to be in ballast, and 11 of them are VLCCs. Together they have nearly 24 million barrels of empty capacity. Another nine, including three VLCCs, sit laden with about 11 million barrels aboard. The load state of one is undetermined.

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