Houthi missile and drone deployments raise Red Sea shipping risk

A U.S. Navy-led maritime security center warned mariners that Yemen’s Houthi movement had positioned missiles and drones near Bab el-Mandeb, the southern entry point to the Red Sea. Ship-tracking firm Kpler said traffic through the strait fell 34% on Tuesday from Monday, while maritime intelligence firm Windward said four tankers carrying Saudi cargoes totaling 3.8 million barrels turned back before reaching the passage.

The Joint Maritime Information Center, based in Bahrain, said in a Tuesday notice that people close to the Houthis had reported the completion of preparations to strike shipping. The center provides security information to commercial vessels operating in Middle Eastern waters.

The warning followed a Houthi announcement on Monday of a maritime embargo aimed at Saudi Arabia. The group threatened to disrupt the kingdom’s oil exports moving through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, according to the maritime notice and reporting cited by CNBC.

Why Bab el-Mandeb matters

Bab el-Mandeb links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, making it a key corridor for cargoes moving between the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal and wider global markets. Vessels leaving Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast for customers beyond the region may need to pass through the strait.

Saudi Arabia has redirected millions of barrels per day through a pipeline to Yanbu, a terminal on the Red Sea, as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has come under pressure. That pipeline route allows Saudi barrels to reach the Red Sea coast, but shipments from Yanbu that head south still depend on safe passage through Bab el-Mandeb.

Kpler data cited by CNBC showed exports from Yanbu through Bab el-Mandeb rose to 3.5 million barrels per day in June, compared with 240,000 barrels per day in the same period a year earlier. The increase has made the southern Red Sea route more significant for oil markets during the conflict involving the United States and Iran.

Traffic continues, but some ships reverse course

The Joint Maritime Information Center said commercial vessels continued to use the southern Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, and that there had been no attacks in the area in the previous two days. It described the threat to shipping in the area as moderate.

The center also said it had not observed changes in commercial routing or transit patterns, with ships continuing to use established lanes without interruption. Kpler’s traffic data and Windward’s tanker observations pointed to some caution among operators after the Houthi embargo declaration.

Windward said the four tankers that turned around on Tuesday were carrying crude oil, gasoil and naphtha linked to Saudi cargoes. The firm did not report an attack on those vessels.

The developments in the Red Sea coincided with rising pressure around the Strait of Hormuz, another major energy corridor. CNBC reported that Iran had increased attacks on tankers near Hormuz as it sought to push vessels to transit through Iranian territorial waters.

Three crude, product and chemical tankers came under attack off Oman and the United Arab Emirates this week, according to CNBC. The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, said a dozen ships had been attacked in and around Hormuz since July 6, with two seafarers killed and more than a dozen people injured.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.