dubai, April 16 -- Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that's become a focal point for the global economy, stayed far below peacetime levels as an effective double blockade stifles vessel movements. The number of commercial ships observed sailing through the strait stood at 11 on Tuesday, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. It averaged 16 a day over the weekend. Ships can switch off their digital transponders to hide their movements in danger zones, and the Wall Street Journal cited two US officials as saying more than 20 went through on Tuesday. Quickly restoring traffic to normal is critical for global economy because it's led to a more-than 400 million-barrel shortfall in oil shipments. That's driven a 31% increase in oil prices since the conflict started with European natural gas gaining by a similar amount. While overall traffic has slowed sharply since the start of the war, Iran has continued to ship at close to pre-war levels, which has helped maintain global supplies and provided a financial lifeline for the Islamic Republic. The US needs its blockade to inflict enough economic pain on Tehran to force it to accept US demands before Iran's own effective closure of Hormuz upends the global economy. US Central Command said in a post on X on Wednesday that no vessels got through its blockade, and that nine complied with direction from US forces and returned toward an Iranian port or coastal area. Some ships will only turn on their transponders again once they're well clear of Hormuz, meaning some transits will only become apparent later. Even so, voyages through the strait will still remain at a fraction of last year's 135-a-day average. Iran all but shut the waterway to other countries' shipping within a day of coming under attack from the US and Israel on February 28. Initially, the US didn't block Tehran's shipments in a bid to contain soaring oil prices, and went so far as to ease sanctions on them. But after ceasefire talks broke down on Sunday, it changed tack, blockading almost all Iran's maritime activity. The measure began on Monday evening Persian Gulf time. Both sides have touted their ability to breach the other's blockade....