Red Sea freight risks escalate as Houthis enforce targeted embargoes on Saudi shipping

Red Sea freight risks have escalated as  Houthi forces have seized the strategic volcanic island of Mayun (Perim) at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, just 24 hours after capturing the Red Sea port city of Mokha. Overlooking the 28-km-wide maritime gateway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the territorial advance expands Houthi coastal oversight along a chokepoint that typically handles nearly 12% of global seaborne trade. The offensive directly threatens Saudi Arabia’s primary supply chain workaround- which relies on piping crude across the desert to Yanbu on the Red Sea to bypass Persian Gulf transit disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Following a drone strike and the coastal offensive, Saudi Arabia temporarily shut down its cross-country East-West pipeline as a precautionary measure, forcing its Red Sea crude exports to head north toward the Suez Canal and the SUMED pipeline, adding transit time and freight premiums for Asian energy importers, according to news reports.

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