SINGAPORE: Commercial shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait slowed significantly on Sunday after Yemen’s Houthi movement launched attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure along the Red Sea coast, according to shipping data released by Kpler on Monday. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz also remained below normal despite a temporary pause in hostilities between the United States and Iran.
Kpler’s data showed that only 11 commodity vessels crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Sunday, marking the lowest daily volume recorded in several months.
Shipping activity in the Red Sea has been increasingly disrupted as the Iran-backed Houthis intensified efforts to target Saudi export routes, widening regional tensions that have already affected oil supplies moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The disruption has pushed prices for physical crude cargoes from the Middle East, Europe, and Africa to their highest levels in about two months.
Among the ships that transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Sunday were seven oil tankers, including three entering the Red Sea. Two of these were Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) bound for Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port to load crude oil, while another vessel linked to Russia also entered the area.
Four tankers exited the Red Sea during the same period. These included the Hong Kong-flagged New Explorer, carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi and Emirati crude destined for Ningbo, China. Another tanker transported 1 million barrels of Russian crude to China, while a separate vessel departed with approximately 750,000 barrels of Saudi crude bound for Pakistan.
Kpler also reported that another Hong Kong-registered VLCC, New Pearl, carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude, was sailing toward Zhoushan, China, becoming the fourth Chinese-bound supertanker to leave the Red Sea since the Houthis announced their naval blockade.
The vessels’ manager, Associated Maritime Hong Kong, did not immediately comment on the developments.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted facilities belonging to Saudi state-owned energy company Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.
Meanwhile, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained subdued. Fewer than 10 commodity vessels passed through the strategic waterway each day over the weekend, despite the suspension of military strikes between Washington and Tehran. On Sunday alone, seven vessels transited the strait, including three Iranian-linked oil product tankers that exited the Gulf, according to Kpler’s shipping data.
