A Genco Shipping & Trading bulker reported spotting Houthi drones in close proximity while another drone struck the water near a US-owned chemical tanker.
The incidents in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday came on a day that US forces carried out a second round of strikes on launch sites in Yemen for the second time in less than 24 hours.
Maritime security firms Diaplous Group and Ambrey Analytics both said the US-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged bulker that was struck by a Houthi attack on Wednesday saw four missiles fly nearby on Thursday, with one hitting the water.
The description was a clear reference to New York-based Genco’s 55,300-dwt bulker Genco Picardy (built 2005).
The vessel was in the International Recommended Transit Corridor about 270 nautical miles (502 km) of Wednesday’s attack.
A Genco executive and a spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports.
No injuries or damage were reported in the incident.
In a separate incident nearby, the Houthi military targeted another US-owned vessel, the 26,200-dwt Chem Ranger (built 2010).
According to US Central Command (Centcom), “the crew observed the missiles impact the water near the ship”. No injuries or damage was reported and the vessel continued its journey.
Security firm Ambrey said that an Indian warship responded to the distress call.
S&P Global identifies the Chem Ranger's owner as Delos Shipping, a Texas-based investment firm. A company executive could not be immediately reached for comment.
The ship is managed by Interunity Management of Greece, which often manages vessels on behalf of financial owners.
According to Ambrey, the tanker called at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and was en route to Shuwaikh in Kuwait.
US strikes back
Meanwhile, the US military said its latest strikes targeted missiles that were about to be launched from Yemen into shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Bahrain-based Centcom, which coordinates the country’s armed forces in the region, said it carried out the strikes on Thursday on two anti-ship missiles “as part of ongoing multi-national efforts to protect freedom of navigation and prevent attacks on maritime vessels” in the key waterway.
In an X post, the command said the two missiles were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and prepared to launch.
The military “determined they were an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships” in the waterway.
“US forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missiles in self-defence,” Central Command said.
The strikes came a day after the US military announced that it carried out strikes on 14 missiles that the Iranian-backed Houthis had loaded for firing.
Central Command said it struck the launch sites to degrade the Houthis ability to attack shipping in the Red Sea on the same day that the Genco Picardy was hit by a kamikaze drone fired from territory in Yemen controlled by the militant group. It was the second attack on a US-controlled merchant ship this week.
After a week of strikes against Houthi launch sites and continued attacks, reporters pressed deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh on whether the US considers itself at war with the Iranian-backed militant group.
“We do not seek war. We are not at war with the Houthis,” she said.
Instead, Singh described strikes on Wednesday and Thursday as acts of self-defence.
The spokeswoman for the US Defence Department headquarters also said warships in the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian are working to secure waterways, escorting merchant vessels only when military forces feel that that step is needed.
Houthi leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Thursday that the attacks on ships bound for Israel will continue, but US and British vessels are also targets.
“The issue that America and Britain have joined the war directly and that we are now in direct confrontation with the Americans, British and Israelis does not scare us at all,” he said, according to Iran’s state-owned Press TV.
“The aggression towards our country and our people will enhance the development of our military capabilities.”
Yannick Guerry, Harry Papachristou and Joe Brady contributed to this story.
