Red Sea container, dry cargo ship traffic plunges amid attacks

LONDON (AA) – The container and dry cargo ship traffic through the Red Sea has shown a significant decline as shipping companies are forced to suspend their voyages through this route or divert it to the Cape of Good Hope.

While daily container vessel traffic through the Red Sea halved in January 1-10 compared to the same period last year, total ship traffic decreased 25% with a significant decline in dry cargo ships, according to data compiled from MarineTraffic, a ship tracking and maritime analytics provider.

Houthis in Yemen have targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Last Thursday, the US and UK launched joint strikes on military targets associated with Houthis.

The Red Sea route accounts for nearly 12% of global seaborne trade traffic.

The number of containers in the Red Sea decreased to 118 this January 1-10 from 248 in the same period last year.

Dry cargo ship traffic in the Red Sea decreased by 5% year-on-year in January 1-10. The figure was down 53% on January 10 from the beginning of this year.

While 45 dry cargo ships were sailing in the region on January 1-6, this number decreased to 21 as of January 10.

– Tanker transits down –

Matthew Wright, senior analyst at ship tracking service Kpler, said there are no container ships over 15,000 TEU in the area due to the joint airstrikes on Yemen that the US and UK launched last week.

“On the bulk commodity side, tankers, dry bulk and LNG flows have been less affected, although transits via the Suez Canal are lower since the first diversions in December. Tanker transits are down around 15% for example,” he said.

The figure is expected to increase further following the warnings to avoid the area for fear of retaliation, Wright noted, adding: “It’s still too early to make many conclusions on the impact on vessel movements. As most container traffic was already avoiding the Red Sea, the impact will be minimal. But, for bulk carriers we expect to see a larger drop than seen over the last three weeks.”