Bab el-Mandeb Ship Traffic Drops After Houthis Strike Saudi Crude Yanbu Port

SINGAPORE – (Special Correpondent/Web Desk) – Bab el-Mandeb ship traffic took a sharp hit on Sunday. This came right after Yemen’s Houthi fighters hit Saudi oil sites along the Red Sea coast. Fresh shipping data from Kpler shows the slowdown clearly.

Only eleven cargo ships crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday. That’s the lowest number seen in months. It shows just how much fear is spreading among ship owners right now.

The trouble started last week. Houthi forces, who are backed by Iran, want to block Saudi oil exports. This move has made an already tense US-Iran standoff even worse. Oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz was already limited before this happened.

Because of all this chaos, oil prices jumped fast. Crude cargo prices across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa hit two-month highs last week alone.

What Happened Near Saudi Ports

Seven of the eleven ships that passed through Bab el-Mandeb on Sunday were oil tankers. Three of them were heading into the Red Sea, not away from it.

Two of these were huge crude carriers, known as VLCCs. Both were sailing toward Yanbu port to pick up Saudi crude oil. This shows the Saudi crude Yanbu port attack hasn’t fully stopped loading operations yet.

A third ship linked to Russia was also seen entering the same route.

Four other tankers left the Red Sea that same day. One was a massive Hong Kong-flagged ship called New Explorer. It was carrying two million barrels of Saudi and Emirati crude oil, headed for Ningbo port in China.

Another tanker carried one million barrels of Russian crude, also bound for China. A smaller ship carried about 750,000 barrels of Saudi crude toward Pakistan.

A second Hong Kong-flagged supertanker, New Pearl, also left the Red Sea. It was loaded with two million barrels of Saudi crude, heading to China’s Zhoushan port. This makes it the fourth Chinese supertanker to leave since Houthi forces announced their naval blockade.

The company managing both ships did not respond to questions right away.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree confirmed the attacks. He said fighters hit Saudi Aramco sites in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu over the weekend.

Hormuz Traffic Stays Weak Too

Ship movement through the Strait of Hormuz also stayed low this weekend. This happened even though the US and Iran had paused military strikes for now.

Fewer than ten ships passed through Hormuz each daA large oil tanker sails through calm waters near a Red Sea port, as tensions along key shipping routes continue to grow.y. On Sunday, seven vessels crossed, including three Iranian-linked fuel tankers leaving the area.

Saturday was even quieter. Only three ships passed through, and all of them had their tracking systems turned off. These included a large crude carrier heading to Qatar, a gas tanker going to the UAE, and a fuel tanker sailing toward Japan.

On Friday, seven ships moved through Hormuz. Most were leaving the Gulf, carrying oil from Iraq and the UAE, along with one fuel oil shipment.

Together, these numbers paint a clear picture. Red Sea Houthis attacks and rising Gulf tensions are quietly reshaping global oil shipping routes, one tanker at a time.