Houthis block Saudi Arabia in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Just when everyone thought rerouting oil tankers around conflict zones was working out, another ocean choke point gets locked down.
Saudi Arabia thought it was being clever. With the Strait of Hormuz getting dicey due to military escalation involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran, the Saudis quietly shifted millions of barrels of crude oil per day across the country to export terminals on the Red Sea instead.
Then the Houthis in Yemen stepped in. The rebel group announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, cutting off access to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — the critical bottleneck connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis framed the move as payback for the long-running blockade and civil war conditions backed by Saudi Arabia. So now, the bypass route for global energy supplies officially needs its own bypass route.
Global logistics managers are rapidly running out of bodies of water that aren't active conflict zones.
Source: CNBC
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