Red Sea Tanker Traffic Hits Multi-Month Low as Houthi Threat Holds

AI Summary

Tanker traffic in the Red Sea has hit a multi-month low due to threats from the Iran-aligned Houthis, who have announced a blockade on Saudi shipments at key chokepoints like the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Saudi Arabia is rerouting crude exports to ports such as Sidi Kerir in Egypt to avoid disruption.

More than half a dozen empty supertankers are currently en route to Egypt’s Sidi Kerir port to pick up Saudi crude as the world’s top crude oil exporter is re-routing – again – its export tactics to avoid the new threat for the Middle East’s chokepoints, the Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea. Since the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen announced last week a blockade on Saudi shipments in the southern Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Saudi Arabia has been shuttling more crude from Yanbu to the Egyptian port of Ain Sukhna on…