Strait of Hormuz traffic still gridlocked, or hidden, after latest Iranian attacks on commercial ships

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained almost nonexistent in the 48 hours after President Trump announced the beginning of Project Freedom, a military operation to guide commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, according to data from the U.K. navy's Maritime Trade Operations Center and analysis from Lloyd's List Intelligence. 

Mr. Trump announced Tuesday evening that the project was being "paused" after just a day, during which the U.S. military helped two vessels transit the strait.

The UKMTO recorded just 11 transits on May 3 and 4, down from a historical average of about 138 per day, the agency said in a report published Tuesday. Four cargo vessels and one oil tanker transited east, leaving the Persian Gulf, during that time, including the two assisted by U.S. forces.

Shipowners and mariners said Project Freedom had not "provided sufficient clarity or credible protection to justify resuming transits" through the narrow waterway, Lloyd's said in a media briefing Wednesday. 

Many ships still in the Persian Gulf switched off their AIS location transponders, or were faking their locations this week, a CBS News analysis found Wednesday. Vessels can turn off their location broadcasts for safety reasons or to make journeys without being tracked openly.

Lloyd's said crew morale on the thousands of vessels stuck amid the war is low, affecting "far beyond the immediate area," citing a survey by the London-based charity Mission to Seafarers, which said some crews were rationing food and boiling seawater.