Ship tracking data released on Monday showed six Saudi-flagged supertankers turning away from the Gulf of Aden and heading for southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen have declared a “maritime ban” on Saudi shipping, backed up by terror attacks.
According to maritime security firms LSEG and MarineTraffic, the six Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) — each with capacity for two million barrels of oil — were empty after delivering cargoes to Asia.
Instead of passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait into the Red Sea, the tankers opted for a much longer course around southern Africa, potentially adding 25 days to their transit time...
Read the full article here