Houthi Attack Disrupts Red Sea Shipping, Further Threatens Global Trade
Shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait has slowed to its lowest level in months after a Houthi attack on Saudi oil installations along the Red Sea coast. The disruption began last week and has been exacerbated by the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran.
The data from Kpler shows that only 11 commodity vessels passed through Bab el-Mandeb on Sunday, down from previous levels. Seven of these vessels were oil tankers, including three very large crude carriers (VLCCs) heading to the port of Yanbu to load Saudi crude.
One of the VLCCs was carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi and Emirati crude for eastern China's Ningbo port. Another was a Russian-linked ship that passed through the strait on Sunday. The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, confirmed that the group had struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.
Meanwhile, transit through the Strait of Hormuz also remained low over the weekend, with fewer than 10 commodity vessels passing through daily. Despite a pause in strikes between the US and Iran, shipping data from Kpler shows that only seven vessels transited on Sunday, including three Iranian-linked oil products tankers.