Yemen’s Houthis intensify attacks against Israel ships

The Red Sea is now even deadlier for merchant ships as Houthis have ramped up attacks in recent weeks on the carriers passing through the seawater inlet separating Asia from Africa.

The latest attack by the Houthis — Iran-backed group who’ve controlled Yemen’s western ports for a decade — took place last week (June 28) when they fired missiles at a ship travelling through the Red Sea off the coast of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida in Yemen.

Cutting the distance between Asia and Europe by half, the Red Sea is a major interoceanic passage handling 22 percent of global seaborne container trade.

Trade flows hit a major bump following Israel’s invasion of Gaza last year as the Houthis declared open season on all ships belonging to Israel and the countries that support its war, which has killed almost 38,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

As a result, major shipping lines have diverted all their Red Sea-bound vessels to the south as they circumnavigate the entire African continent — via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa — causing a steep rise in freight costs.

The latest spate of attacks made June the second-worst month since the violence began last November.

“The coming months will be challenging for carriers and businesses… The longer that this lasts, the more our costs will get deeply ingrained,” said Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk, a Danish company that controls the second largest share in container shipping business worldwide.

The Houthis have so far targeted more than 60 vessels by firing missiles and drones, killing a total of four sailors, according to The Associated Press. They have seized one vessel and sank two since November.

Speaking to TRT World, geopolitical expert Dr Kaan Devecioglu said the worst victims of escalating violence along the Red Sea trade corridor are shipping companies and average consumers as higher insurance and freight costs, coupled with extended transit times, are fueling inflation in the global commodity markets.

The Drewry’s World Container Index reflects Devecioglu’s views, it shows the average freight rate has nearly doubled to $5,318 for a 40-foot container in the last two months alone. Rising by 256 percent from a year ago.

Dr Devecioglu, the coordinator for North African Studies at ORSAM, an Ankara-based think tank, says Iran-aligned Houthis are waging an “asymmetric war” against the dominant powers of the international system.

The Red Sea is a “vital route” for European trade, especially hydrocarbon transfers from Gulf countries to Europe, he says. The root of the Red Sea crisis is geopolitical given Iran’s alleged support for Houthis in terms of weaponry and intelligence, he adds.

Besides Maersk, major shipping lines that have diverted their vessels away from the Red Sea include German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd and the world’s biggest shipper Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

Middle East takes a hit

According to PortWatch, a platform set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to monitor and simulate trade disruptions, the economies that have taken the biggest hit are in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Red Sea trade route is particularly important for oil exports from the Middle East to Europe and from Russia to Asia, it says.

Real-time data from the IMF portal shows the extent of the drop in maritime traffic along the Red Sea trade route. The latest average of daily calls by ships at Bab el Mandeb Strait, which is located near the recent attacks in the Red Sea, was 22, down 72 percent from a year ago.

In contrast, the latest average of daily transit calls at Cape of Good Hope, located at the southern tip of Africa, has gone up nearly 42 percent to 85 ships.

According to Joze Pelayo, associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, a prolonged crisis affects Beijing and its interests around the Red Sea, including China’s supply chains in the region and revenue for state companies involved in port management near the Suez Canal.

“Although not entirely spared [by the Houthis], shipping associated with China, Russia, or India is less likely to be targeted… But the biggest loser is the Yemeni people who continue to be faced with severe goods shortages due to the inability and reluctance of ships to approach the country,” he tells TRT World.

Protection pact

Back in March, Bloomberg reported the Houthis reached an “understanding” with China and Russia to allow their ships to sail unharmed through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In exchange for protection to their ships, China and Russia allegedly promised extending “political support” to the Houthis at international forums like the United Nations Security Council.

Pelayo says shipping associated with Russia and China has passed through the troubled trade route “largely unaffected but not entirely”.

“So the pact is perhaps still intact but it is far from perfect. China continues to extract self-interested gains where it can and leaves the responsibility to protect/restore maritime security to others,” he says.

In response, a US-led coalition has made counter-strikes by air to neutralise the Houthi threat to maritime traffic. Last week, the US military said it destroyed seven drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Yet the Houthis seem largely invincible so far.

The group sees the Israeli war on Gaza as an opportunity to “appear as pseudo-heroes and pseudo-allies for Gaza” as anti-American sentiments sweep the Arab world following US support for Israel, Pelayo says.

“Despite multiple and successful strikes the coalition has conducted against the Houthis, ships are simply still reluctant to risk going back through the Red Sea. So it is more about returning commercial confidence to the route, which may be easier after a potential ceasefire" in the Israel's war on the Palestinian enclave is achieved, he adds.