Red Sea shipping slumps after Houthi attacks as Hormuz traffic stays low
Ship traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb strait fell to its lowest level in months on Sunday after Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked Saudi oil facilities along the Red Sea coast, while transit through the Strait of Hormuz remained unusually subdued despite the pause in US-Iran strikes.
Only 11 commodity vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb on Sunday, according to Kpler shipping data, as continued security concerns disrupted traffic through the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, fewer than 10 commodity vessels a day transited the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.
Just seven vessels passed through on Sunday, including three Iranian-linked oil products tankers exiting the waterway, while only three vessels were tracked on Saturday, all with their transponders switched off.
The data suggest that, despite the recent pause in direct US-Iran strikes and renewed diplomatic efforts, commercial shipping through both of the region’s most strategically important maritime chokepoints remains severely disrupted.