Six Saudi ships diverted after Houthi threat

Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have diverted their routes from the Gulf of Aden after Yemen’s Houthi movement threatened to attack them.

The data, released on Monday (August 3), showed the tankers were now heading towards South Africa. According to AIS ship-tracking by LSEG and Marine Traffic, the supertankers, which had returned empty from Asia, set off together for South Africa instead of crossing the southern Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Tracking data showed one of the ships was set to sail for Gibraltar. The ships’ Saudi-based operator, Bahri, and other Saudi officials did not immediately comment on the matter.

Two trade sources said the tankers had decided to take a longer detour via the Cape of Good Hope given the current security situation. Each tanker has a maximum capacity of two million barrels of crude oil. Reuters says that if the ships later want to return to Saudi ports in the Red Sea via the Suez Canal, their voyage will be at least 25 days longer.

On July 20, the Iran-backed Houthi group declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, opening a new front against the United States and its allies in the ongoing Iran-Saudi war.

The London-based marine insurance market last week expanded its “high risk” zone in the Red Sea, adding waters near some new Saudi ports, following a series of Houthi attacks on Saudi-linked ships in recent days.

Source: Reuters.