Red Sea Traffic Down by Half Due to Houthi Attacks, Yemeni Official Says
(Arab World Press) - A maritime transport sector official in Hadhramaut governorate in southern Yemen revealed that the movement of ships to the country’s ports has almost halved during the past few months due to Houthi group attacks against vessels in the Red Sea.
In an interview with AWP, Salem Ali Abdullah Basameer, Executive Chairman of the Yemen Arabian Sea Ports Corporation, said, “The events in the Red Sea have significantly affected our shipping activity, leading to a decrease in the number of ships arriving at the port of Mukalla, and also the ports under the Yemeni Arabian Sea Corporation’s control.”
He explained, “The decline reached 40%, even reaching 50% in some months, and this has affected us financially. It has impacted the corporation’s activities and our investment projects that are self-financed by the Corporation. But as I mentioned, we hope to restore this activity step by step and in an expedited way.”
Basameer said, “Shipping companies have found alternative maritime routes and headed to the Cape of Good Hope because of the instability and insecurity in the Red Sea. In turn, this has led to higher transportation costs.”
“We are not far from this impact, as our region has also been affected as it is an unstable and unsafe region, and this has led to an increase in the cost of maritime transport, and thus an increase in the cost of goods reaching our citizens.”
The Yemeni Houthi group claims to be targeting trade ships in the Red Sea owned or operated by Israel or transporting goods to or from Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip since October 7th.
The United States and Britain have launched airstrikes on Houthi locations with the aim of disrupting and weakening the group’s ability to attack Red Sea targets and disrupt global trade.