According to Houthi Rebels, they have brought an end to their attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea area, but that excludes vessels that are owned by Israel or fly the Israeli flag.

The targeting of commercial shipping by Houthi’s has continued for a over a year now, but the Gaza ceasefire seems to have brought about a change of heart.

Last January, carriers were busy diverting containerships around Africa to avoid the Houthi attacks, which resulted in major disruption for Asia/European supply chains for months to follow.

Not only did it add another 10-12 days to transit times, but it also had steamship lines scrambling to find vessels to cover the longer routes and led to an extreme shortage of available capacity.

A Houthi Rebel spokesperson has made clear that in the event of any aggression against the republic of Yemen by the US, the UK, or Israel, they will resume attacks on US/UK vessels.

While the team at Unique welcome the news, we believe it may be some time before carriers return to the Suez Canal route and trust the Houthi’s new claim.

There is also the position of carriers to consider, who have hired and purchased ships this year to cover the rotation needs of the longer transit times and could be left facing overcapacity if they reroute vessels via the shorter route.

It remains to be seen when the first carrier commits back to the Red Sea. Meanwhile the team at Unique are monitoring developments closely.