The Strait of Hormuz is in trouble. This is an important place for oil to get to other countries.. Now it is almost not working because of fighting in the area.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the important places for oil to get to other countries.. Now shipping traffic is down by 95 percent. This is because the United States and Israel had a fight with Iran. Iran is fighting back. This is making it very hard for ships to get through the Strait of Hormuz.
Normally 20 percent of the worlds oil and gas comes through the Strait of Hormuz. So when there is a problem it is a big deal for the whole world. The Strait of Hormuz is a waterway and it is very important for oil and gas to get to other countries.
Not many ships are going through the Strait of Hormuz now. Usually 120 ships go through every day.. From March 1 to March 19 only 116 ships went through the whole Strait of Hormuz. Most of these ships were leaving the Strait of Hormuz with oil and gas. Not many ships are coming into the Strait of Hormuz.
This is a bad time for ships in the area. At 23 ships have been attacked or had problems, in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. Eleven of these ships were oil tankers. The fighting has also hurt people. Eight sailors have been. Four are missing. Some sailors were also hurt. The Strait of Hormuz is not a place right now.
An estimated 20,000 workers who are in the industry are now stuck across the region. This is because than 3,200 ships are waiting for a safe route to take. There are 250 oil tankers that are still stuck in the Gulf. These tankers carry 5 percent of the worlds crude oil.
The problems are making costs go up along the supply chain. The price of fuel for ships has gone up by 87 percent. The cost of shipping oil has also gone up. It has doubled to 10 dollars per barrel.
Experts are warning that if the problems at Hormuz go on for a time it could cause big problems with supplies all over the world. This would be especially hard for countries that import a lot of energy. The Strait of Hormuz is very important, for the world.
