TEHRAN — Global shipping operators and international trade regulators are expressing deep concern following financial projections indicating that Iran’s proposed 7 percent mandatory transit toll on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz could generate over $385 million daily net, or more than $100 billion annually under pre-war traffic volumes.
The Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint handling roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption, has been at the center of growing geopolitical tension amid ongoing security disruptions in the Persian Gulf.
According to economic assessments of the proposed levy, a single Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) carrying a maximum capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil would incur an estimated $11 million toll for a single passage through the strait. Because maritime toll collection involves negligible overhead costs, financial analysts estimate a net profit margin of approximately 97 percent for Iranian authorities.
At an annual net revenue exceeding $100 billion, the toll would place Tehran’s collection on par with the yearly net earnings of major global corporations, including Alphabet ($132 billion in 2025), Nvidia ($120 billion FY2026), Saudi Aramco ($105 billion), and tech giants Apple and Microsoft. The figure would also represent 15 to 20 times the all-time peak annual revenue of the Suez Canal, while accounting for more than one-third of Iran’s entire gross domestic product (GDP) without requiring the extraction of additional domestic oil reserves.
The developments have drawn immediate pushback from international shipping federations—including BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), and the World Shipping Council (WSC)—who have petitioned the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reject any mandatory transit fees. Industry leaders warned that establishing commercial tolls on international straits sets a dangerous precedent for global trade, threatening to inflate energy prices and supply chain costs worldwide.
