Container ships and — to a much lesser extent — gas carriers, have been bearing the brunt of Houthi disruption in the Red Sea.
Latest Clarksons data for the five days through to 26 December show ship arrivals in the Gulf of Aden dropping by 40% compared to the first half of December, when big shipping companies announced they would avoid the waterway for fear of rebel attacks off Yemen.
Container ships came close to a standstill, with the decline rate reaching 87%.
A significant diversion was also observed in the case of LPG and LNG carriers, as arrivals to the Gulf of Aden dropped by 30% and 28% respectively.
Bulkers and tankers, by contrast, seem to be escaping much more lightly. Arrivals to Aden, either from the Indian Ocean or the Red Sea, declined by just 15% in the case of bulkers and by 10% for product tankers.
Crude oil carriers even crossed the region in the five days through to 26 December at the same pace they did in the first half of December.
A similar picture emerges when one looks at Suez Canal transits.
Southbound average daily transits between 22 December and 26 December were down 45% from first-half December figures. Northbound transits declined at a slower pace of 26%.
The Suez Canal saw a total of 1,747 ships cross between 1 December and 25 December. That compares with 2,285 transits for the full November and 2,285 for the full October.
About 10% of global trade goes through the Suez Canal.
Shipping companies like AP Moller Maersk and CMA CGM have begun preparing a gradual return to the Red Sea following the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian — a US-led multinational naval task force to protect commercial ships.
“Vessels transiting in the Southern Red Sea will note a significant increase in the number of coalition warships and aircraft operating in the area as part of this operation,” the NorthStandard P&I club said in a recent advisory.
It is still unclear, however, how many naval assets will be deployed over what time frame in the initiative, as well as under which rules of engagement and chain of command.
