The last couple of months, the Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea, which has resulted in rising security issues, route diversions and broad concerns about the integrity of people and trade in the Red Sea.
Troubles rage on
The Greek-owned bulk carrier, Zografia, was attacked off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea on Tuesday. The Malta-flagged vessel was reportedly targeted and impacted with a missile while transiting northbound in the Red Sea, 76 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s port city of Saleef.
Two days ago, Houthi also targeted the U.S.-owned and operated dry bulk vessel Gibraltar Eagle with an anti-ship ballistic missile, as confirmed by U.S. Central Command.
On the other front, the UN Security Council adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2722 (2024) on 10 January 2024, stressing, among others, that the Security Council condemns in the strongest terms the at least two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial and demands that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks.
Additionally, on 13rd January, the U.S. Central Command declared a subsequent strike on Houthi positions in Yemen, emphasizing their goal to diminish the rebels’ capacity to launch missiles and drones at commercial ships in the area. Despite these actions, Houthis continue targeting vessels.
Meanwhile, two major oil and gas industry companies have announced that they will join the list of organisations avoiding the Red Sea area. In particular, both Qatar Energy and Shell have halted tanker deliveries via the Red Sea due to rising tensions in Yemen.
Consequences on broader scale
According to ESPO, Europe’s ports underline their strong concerns about this escalating situation, which is also causing important disruptions in the supply chain and risks to hamper the just in time deliveries to certain industries in the short run.
In the case of the Ever Given, we were faced with an unfortunate accident and the solution depended on technical and operational expertise. Now, we are facing a geopolitical hindrance of a major commercial trading route, which makes it more difficult and unpredictable to solve.
Alternative routes
Companies are rerouting their ships around the Cape of Good Hope to prevent assaults on both the ship and its crew, which operators fear. Alas, rerouting might extend the Asia–Europe journey by 8–15 days, and add an additional 3,000–3,500 nautical miles (6,000km) to the existing route.
The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) has issued a new marine security notice to inform about Red Sea transits, which are currently considered extremely high risk. BMA recommends ships to use the Maritime Security Transit Corridor (MSTC) to benefit from the military presence and surveillance. The Maritime Security Transit Corridor (MSTC) is a military established corridor upon which naval forces focus their presence and surveillance efforts.