Red Sea freight traffic has fallen 46% since the start of Houthi attacks in November

movement of goods through bab el mandebIn this the Red SeaToday is down 46% since the start of attacks on shipping by Yemeni militias on November 19, and 53% less than that recorded on January 7 last year, according to Port Watch data.

Port Watch is a maritime traffic disruption analysis tool developed by? International Monetary FundL (IMF) and University of Oxford (United Kingdom), collects maritime traffic data from around the world.

On November 18, the day before the Houthis hijacked the Galaxy Leader ship off the coast of Yemen, 61 cargo ships and 23 oil tankers had passed the pass, while only 30 and 14 did so respectively the previous Sunday.

The most severe reduction in traffic occurred from mid-December, as attacks intensified and, according to the United States State Department, more than twenty commercial vessels had already been affected.

The Red Sea is bounded on the north by Suez Canal and south of the Bab el Mandeb Strait, there is a The route through which more than 19,000 freighters travel every yearWhich represents 11% of global maritime traffic, in addition to being the fastest route between Asian ports and the Mediterranean Sea.

From mid-November, Yemen’s Shia rebels shell ships flying the flag of the Jewish state or owned by Israeli companies In response to the attack in Gaza, it passes through Bab el Mandeb.

The attacks on the Yemeni coast, although to a lesser extent, affected the route of the Suez Canal, which saw a 33.4% decrease in traffic from the same date, although Osama Rabie, chairman of the canal authority, said last December that navigation through the pass to “Developing normally.”

Faced with this threat, some of the world’s most important shipping companies redirected their cargo ships in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope, including the Danish Shipping Company. Meyrkswhich assured last Friday that it would avoid that route altogether in the “immediate future” or MSC, the largest container company, which ceased operations in those waters in mid-December.

However, French CMA CGM assured that some of its ships have managed to transit the Bab el Mandeb and there are plans to fully resume this route in the future.

The alternative route, which borders the African continent to the south and has increased its traffic by 33.2% over that period, involves 10 more days of crossing, significantly increasing fuel costs and increasing the final freight price. She goes.

According to Port Watch, LThe most affected sectors at this time are oil, and non-metallic chemicals and minerals.,

The military coalition formed to respond to the US-led Houthi offensive accused Yemeni rebels of “disrupting the vital transit of food, fuel and humanitarian aid from around the world.”

The rebels, for their part, assured that “the formation of the American coalition to protect Israeli vessels poses a serious threat to the safety of international navigation in the Red Sea, and those involved will suffer the consequences of their dangerous and irresponsible actions.” ” “, according to the group’s political bureau in a statement.

The attacks have been carried out by both the Houthis and Somali pirates since the war in the Gaza Strip between the Islamic group Hamas and Israel began on October 7.

(with information from EFE)