The Red Sea is experiencing black days and with each passing day they become more so. The war, here, seems to want to stay.
The Houthi militiamen kept their word yesterday and responded with missiles to last Friday's attacks by the United States and the United Kingdom against their bases. They first warned during the early hours of the morning, launching a projectile from Yemeni territory at around four o'clock local time against the American destroyer USS Lagoon. Which was intercepted. They later confirmed it with another missile also launched around 4 p.m. against the Gibraltar Eagle ship. The merchant ship, a bulk carrier, suffered minor damage to its port side and no one was injured, US Central Command confirmed. Shortly afterwards there were aerial bombardments in Yemen near the Al Hodeida airfield, a port town controlled by the Houthi rebels.
Some attacks and others mark, however, a turning point in the hostilities between the Shiite militia supported by Iran and Washington. Because the Gibraltar Eagle, although sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, belongs to a company based in Connecticut. And because until now the Houthi attacks were justified in support of Hamas in the Gaza war, while the war lasts, and against ships related in one way or another to Israel.
Not anymore.
The Gibraltar Eagle is American and was attacked by the Houthis while sailing about 95 nautical miles (175 kilometers) off the coast in the southern Gulf of Aden. The USS Lagoon was in the Red Sea. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended yesterday in Westminster that last Friday's attacks against the Houthi rebels, which destroyed their radar and missile storage and launching bases, were "limited", "proportionate" and "necessary". But far from being a solution, today, in Yemen, in the poorest country in the Middle East, in a country at war for a decade, war is in order with the Americans and British in the objective.
And it is already noticeable. And restless. Because if 90% of what is transported worldwide is done by sea, the Red Sea is one of its central points and over 15% of the ships that connect the world pass through this point under normal conditions. And not any more.
In Eilat, the only city in Israel that faces the Red Sea, its port has no ships moored. Only about 5% of total Israeli imports are imported through it to the Mediterranean ports (particularly Ashdod, north of the Gaza Strip), but it is empty. In it you can't see the ships that used to load Asian cars, nor do their cranes move, nor can you see LNG tankers and the tubes and tanks prepared for the gas accumulate dust.
And in the Jordanian port of Aqaba, just opposite, the same can be seen.
In both ports, yesterday's attacks add even more uncertainty as they occurred not far from the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a mandatory passage area to enter and exit the Red Sea, conditioning the access of ships bound for the Suez Canal, to Eilat, or to Aqaba, as well as routes from Asia and the Middle East to Europe and vice versa.
Some of the largest maritime operators in the world have also reaffirmed in recent hours their decision to redirect their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, surrounding Africa and avoiding Yemen. And traffic through the Red Sea is estimated to have fallen by more than 40% since the start of the Houthi attacks in November. And the shock wave reaches Egypt, which loses essential income for its economy day after day of the crisis in Suez. And it also reaches the West, where transportation costs increase (according to the most recent calculations, at least by two) and with the fear that, in the medium term, and if Bab el Mandeb continues to be blocked, it will have repercussions further afield.
The Red Sea is experiencing dark days, days of war, and the energy market is also suffering, particularly gas and oil originating in the Middle East. Because at least five liquefied natural gas vessels operated by Qatar heading to the southern end of the Red Sea have been detained since last Friday, Bloomberg reports. And in the case of the oil tankers, the same thing happens, since at least six – Reuters details – were leaving the area.
The coalition led by the United States against the Houthis attacked the militia for the first time in Yemen last Friday to ensure the passage of ships through the Red Sea. The same coalition, however, now advises merchant ships to be cautious due to the growing danger in the area. Since November, Yemen's Houthis have carried out at least thirty attacks against cargo ships transiting the Strait of Bab el Mandeb and the Red Sea. And they are not expected to be the last. Nor does Washington's response change.
