Oil tankers and tankers are advised to stay away from the Gulf of Aden.
Following the escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the US and British attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen, major shipping and tanker industry groups are advising their members to stay away from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (or Mandab), while cargo ships are again diverting transit from the Red Sea en masse.
In a notice to its members, the International Association of Independent Oil Owners (Intertanko), which represents almost 70% of all international oil, chemical and gas tankers, said tankers should "stay well away" from Bab el -Mandeb and stop north of Yemen when traveling south via the Suez Canal route.
“The period of threat to shipping is expected to last several days,” Intertanko said in the warning reported by the Financial Times .
The increased threat to shipping in the area sent oil prices soaring more than 4% in the early hours of Friday, after US and British forces in the Red Sea struck military targets in Yemen late on Friday. Thursday in response to Houthi attacks on shipping in the area.
“These targeted attacks are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to jeopardize freedom of navigation,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement following the air and naval attacks.
BIMCO, the world's largest organization of shipowners, charterers, brokers and shipping agents, also advised its members to avoid the Red Sea.
“Should the situation escalate, all ships will have to avoid the Red Sea until safe passage is restored and will effectively close the Suez Canal to all ships,” except those not crossing the Red Sea, he said. said Niels Rasmussen, chief analyst at BIMCO, as reported by Bloomberg.
In an update on Friday, shipping giant Maersk said that “The situation is continually evolving and remains highly volatile, and all available information confirms that the security risk continues to be at a significantly high level.”
“We have therefore decided that all Maersk vessels destined to transit the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden will be diverted south, around the Cape of Good Hope, for the foreseeable future,” Maersk added.
So if the mission of the US and UK attack was to make transit in the Straits and the Red Sea safer, for now it has achieved the opposite objective.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article Oil tankers and tankers warn to stay away from the Gulf of Aden. comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/le-petroliere-e-le-navi-cisterna-avvista-di-stare-alla-larga-del-golfo-di-aden/ on Fri, 12 Jan 2024 16:18:17 +0000.