Container ship traffic in the Red Sea has fallen by around 70% since mid-November due to attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels in that region, Ami Daniel, head of a consulting firm, said on Wednesday. and expertise in sea transport.
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“Our data shows that since the attack on the Galaxy Leader – a ship that was stormed by Yemen's Houthi rebels on November 19 and who are still holding 25 crew hostage – the number of RoRo ships with cars that “Cape of Good Hope has increased threefold,” Mr Daniel, founder and director of Windward, told AFP.
The Galaxy Leader, also a Ro-Ro, is owned by a British company, which in turn is owned by an Israeli businessman.
“RoRo passage in the Red Sea has fallen by 90%. They no longer cross this region,” said Mr. Daniel.
Regarding bulk carriers – bulk carriers – he estimates that their number in the Red Sea has fallen by 15% since the Houthi attacks began in retaliation for Israeli bombings in Gaza.
Only oil ships still use the Suez Canal, which is accessible from the Red Sea, as frequently as before.
“This will create a supply chain problem in the coming years as it will take time to resolve,” said the entrepreneur, whose company uses artificial intelligence and data aggregation to advise maritime stakeholders.
“We are not at the level of Covid, but not far in terms of the impact on the supply chain,” he judged.
On Wednesday, the British and US armies announced that they had shot down 18 Houthi-launched drones and three missiles in the Red Sea. The British government called it the “biggest attack” by Yemeni rebels to date.
“We are still very concerned about the situation in the Red Sea, not only about the situation itself, the risks to global trade, the environment and people, but also about the risk of escalation into a more serious conflict. Widespread in the Middle East,” explained the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General.