Shipping data released on Monday by Kpler showed a decline in vessel movement through the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Sunday, following attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group on Saudi oil facilities along the Red Sea coast, while transit rates through the Strait of Hormuz remained low over the weekend.
The data indicated that only 11 vessels carrying bulk commodities crossed the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Sunday—the lowest level in months.
Maritime traffic in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen has been disrupted since last week by the Tehran-aligned Houthis, who are attempting to enforce a blockade on Saudi exports. This development has further escalated the conflict between the United States and Iran, which had already choked oil supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The shipping disruptions led to a surge in physical crude oil cargo prices across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, pushing them to two-month highs over the past few days.
Among the vessels that transited the Bab al-Mandab Strait were seven oil tankers, three of which entered the Red Sea.
According to the data, two of these ships were Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) heading to the Port of Yanbu to load Saudi oil, while the third vessel was linked to Russia.
The data also showed that four ships exited the Red Sea on Sunday, including the Hong Kong-flagged VLCC New Explorer, which was carrying two million barrels of Saudi and Emirati crude bound for the port of Ningbo in eastern China. Additionally, a tanker carrying one million barrels of Russian crude to China and another carrying roughly 750,000 barrels of Saudi crude to Pakistan also departed the region.
Another Hong Kong-flagged VLCC, the New Pearl, carrying two million barrels of Saudi crude, is currently exiting the Red Sea via Bab al-Mandab en route to Zhoushan Port in eastern China. It marks the fourth Chinese VLCC to depart since the Houthis announced the naval blockade.
Associated Maritime Hong Kong, which manages both the New Explorer and New Pearl, has not yet responded to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree stated that the group targeted sites belonging to the Saudi state oil giant Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.
Tracking data from Kpler further revealed that fewer than 10 commodity-carrying vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily over the weekend, despite a pause in strikes between the United States and Iran in the Middle East.
The data indicated that seven ships crossed on Sunday, including three Iranian-linked product tankers exiting the strait.
On Saturday, only three vessels transited the waterway, all operating with their transponders turned off. These included a VLCC heading to Qatar to load crude, a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanker bound for the Ruwais port in the UAE to pick up a cargo, and a tanker carrying Qatari naphtha to Japan.
On Friday, seven ships passed through—the majority departing the Gulf—including two VLCCs carrying crude from Iraq and the UAE, alongside a tanker carrying a cargo of fuel oil.
Reuters
