Gulf shipping traffic down after Houthis say they attacked Saudi tanker

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the key ​maritime chokepoints in the Gulf, reduced significantly on ‌Wednesday from the previous day, shipping data showed.

Just two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, including a Panama-flagged coal-laden ​carrier entering the waterway and another commodity ​Marshall Islands-flagged vessel exiting, shipping data from ⁠Kpler showed, down from eight vessels a day ​earlier.

Roughly 130 to 140 ships would typically transit the ​waterway before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28 and Iran responded by closing the strait.
In the Bab el-Mandeb, ​only one commodity vessel, a Bahamas-flagged dry bulk ​carrier, crossed the strait on Wednesday, Kpler data showed, down ‌from ⁠20 the previous day.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom's ​Red Sea port ​city of ⁠Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf ​of Aden.

There was no confirmation from ​Saudi ⁠Arabia on either incident.

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea since ⁠last ​month in response to what ​they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh ​has denied.

-Reuters