Tankers are thinning out at one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints after Yemen’s Houthis struck Saudi oil sites on the Red Sea, triggering a sharp drop in vessel movements through Bab el-Mandeb.
At the same time, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained subdued over the weekend, according to shipping data from Kpler released on Monday.
Just 11 commodity vessels transited the Bab el-Mandeb strait yesterday — the lowest count in months, the data showed.
Red Sea movements have been thrown off course since last week off Yemen’s coast by the Tehran-aligned Houthis, who say they want to blockade Saudi exports. The disruption adds another pressure point to the broader US-Iran confrontation that has already constrained oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Of the ships that made the Bab el-Mandeb passage, seven were oil tankers, with three of those heading into the Red Sea.
Kpler’s data showed two of the inbound tankers were very large crude carriers (VLCCs) bound for the Saudi port of Yanbu to load crude, while the third was a Russian-linked ship.
Four vessels were recorded leaving the Red Sea yesterday, including the Hong Kong-flagged VLCC New Explorer, which was carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi and Emirati crude destined for Ningbo port in eastern China. The outbound group also included a tanker transporting 1 million barrels of Russian crude to China and another carrying about 750,000 barrels of Saudi crude for Pakistan, the data showed.
The New Explorer is the third Chinese VLCC to leave the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Associated Maritime Hong Kong, which manages the New Explorer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside office hours.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group hit sites belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.
Hormuz
In the Strait of Hormuz, Kpler data showed fewer than 10 commodity vessels per day transited over the weekend, even as the United States and Iran have paused strikes in the Middle East.
Seven vessels passed through yesterday, including three Iranian-linked oil products tankers that exited the strait, the data showed.
Traffic was even lighter on Saturday, when just three vessels were observed transiting with their transponders switched off.
Those ships included a VLCC sailing to Qatar to load oil, a liquefied petroleum gas tanker headed to the United Arab Emirates’ Ruwais port to take on cargo, and a tanker carrying Qatari naphtha bound for Japan, according to the data.
On Friday, seven vessels transited — most of them departing the Gulf — including two VLCCs carrying crude from Iraq and the UAE, as well as a tanker loaded with fuel oil.
