Washington has doubled the size of its maritime insurance backstop tied to Strait of Hormuz transits to $40 billion, widening an emergency effort to encourage commercial shipping to return to the route. The expansion brings in additional private insurers and broadens capacity for war-risk, liability and cargo cover, but the market response remains cautious as owners continue to focus more on physical security than on insurance availability alone.
That distinction matters for tanker operators. TankerMap tracks 4,105 vessels worldwide, including 3,201 crude tankers and 904 LNG carriers, underlining how disruption in Hormuz can quickly affect vessel deployment, freight rates and ballast positioning across multiple basins. The platform also monitors 155 energy ports, offering a wider view of how reduced Gulf traffic can spill into export scheduling, refinery supply chains and congestion patterns well beyond the Middle East.
Even with larger insurance capacity, operators are unlikely to return in size unless transit conditions become more predictable. For now, the policy move may help rebuild confidence at the margin, but security risk remains the main constraint on restoring normal oil shipping flows through the waterway.