"We just have not kept up with water supply and water infrastructure like we should have. And it's decades in the making," said Peter Zanoni, the city manager since 2019.
After six weeks stranded in the Gulf, one of the 20,000 seafarers trapped by Iran's chokehold on the strait of Hormuz is reaching their limit. We're at anchor, near dozens of loaded tankers. No one has moved an inch.
A 'workable system' of transit and shipowner confidence in the security of the transiting vessels is essential. This includes availability of insurance for transiting vessels, facilitating commercial trade financing, and sustained outbound vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz.
Shipping costs have increased by more than 10 percent in the past month due to the US-Israel war on Iran. The 60-day waiver for the Jones Act aimed to lower energy costs but has had little impact on oil prices, which continue to rise amid the ongoing conflict.
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The market remains highly sensitive to developments in the Middle East, where elevated geopolitical tensions continue to expose energy infrastructure and shipping routes to significant risks. Supply conditions have already tightened, as production in parts of the region has been curtailed due to limited storage capacity and difficulties in exporting crude amid shipping constraints.
Three supertankers laden with oil have passed through the Strait of Hormuz amid the fragile truce between the United States and Iran, according to shipping data. Iran's blockade of the strait has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices soaring since the start of the US and Israel's war on Iran.
The reopening of Hormuz is critical to the world's oil trade because its closure has resulted in the loss of millions of barrels of supply to global markets. A resumption would alleviate pressure on increasingly tight physical markets everywhere.
The death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, 2026, per NPR reporting, sent immediate shockwaves through energy markets. WTI crude climbed from $61.60 on February 2 to $71.13 by March 2, and prediction markets now assign 97% probability to crude reaching $75 by end of March, with 81% confidence in a move to $80.
Under the current ceasefire, fewer than 15 ships per day are permitted to transit the Strait of Hormuz. This movement is strictly contingent upon Iran's approval and the enforcement of a specific protocol.
After 40 days of fighting, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with negotiations expected to begin in Islamabad. One key point in Iran's proposal is allowing shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed since the war began, causing global oil prices to soar.
The United States - we produce more oil than we can consume. We're a net oil exporter," Wright said. This comment misses some important context. Some metrics show the U.S. as a net exporter, but for crude oil - the material that's refined into gasoline - the U.S. is a net importer.
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