Vessels laden with iron ore cargoes destined for the Middle East are changing course for new destinations amid the freeze on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz because of the US-Israel war with Iran, data from ship-tracking agency Kpler and LSEG showed.
There have been four diversions so far in the iron ore market, said Kpler analyst Ben Ayre.
Cape Shangrila, carrying 170,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate, was bound to discharge in Bahrain on March 9, according to Kpler and LSEG data, but it is now bound for China, Kpler data showed.
Ore Italia, with 385,000 tonnes of iron ore fines, has been diverted from Sohar to head for Dongjiakou in eastern China.
A third vessel, Cape Jasmine with 170,000 tonnes of iron ore, is similarly sailing away from Bahrain to Qingdao in eastern China.
Another vessel, Mineral Zimbabwe, was bound for Sohar but is now heading to Qingdao.
Iran is the world's number 10 steel producer by output, data from the World Steel Association (WSA) showed.
The Middle East produced a total of 56.9 million tonnes of crude steel in 2025, around three per cent of the global total, according to WSA data.
Iron ore is a key steelmaking ingredient, with China currently the world's largest consumer.
(Reporting by Amy Lv, Tom Daly and Lewis Jackso; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)