Houthi rebels in Yemen have extended their attacks on shipping to the Indian Ocean, hitting a vessel beyond the previously-targeted Red Sea region.
The FT reports that the Houthis launched a drone attack on a Portuguese-flagged ship, MSC Orion, on 26 April.
The UK Maritime Trade Observatory (UKMTO) confirmed the report in an update, saying that the vessel and crew were reported as “safe”.
Previous threats
The MSC Orion was hit in the Arabian Sea region of the Indian Ocean, around 600km off the coast of Yemen.
The attack follows a threat in March from Houthi leaders that the rebel group would expand its operations to the Indian Ocean, attacking ships that aim to bypass the Suez Canal by sailing via the Cape of Hope .
The use of the West African route is already a response to previous attacks by the Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea.
Disruption?
The confirmation of the attack suggests that Houthis have the capability to attack vessels far beyond their previous targets in the Red Sea, according to naval experts.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that another ship, the bulker MV Cyclades, was attacked on Monday (29 April), with no casualties reported.
The Houthi campaign has already caused serious disruption to supply chains by causing large shipping firms to reroute. It has also sparked questions over the security global good flows.
The British Chambers of Commerce published research in February that suggested that over half of UK exporters were being affected by the crisis in Red Sea shipping.
The IOE&IT perspective
Marco Forgione, director general of the Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT), said:
“This new attack by Houthi rebels marks a concerning development at a time when attacks in the Red Sea have already stressed supply chains.
“Large shipping firms diverted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope in response to those attacks, and the worry now is that the expansion of Houthi operations to hit even diverted vessels will affect global trade, putting renewed pressure on prices and the availability of goods.”
‘The world can move fewer goods’
Speaking to the IOE&IT Daily Update earlier this year, professor Jan Gosell from Loughborough Business School also suggested that the Red Sea crisis, and other incidents affecting shipping globally, would limit the movement of goods globally:
“If you look at what's happening with the Red Sea and the Panama Canal, and last year with shipping through the Rhine – where water levels dropped to such a level that they couldn’t use it – it will mean shipping has to reroute and in the long term that will put up logistics costs.
“Being at sea for another four weeks means additional fuel. Secondly, it takes capacity out of the network, because everything that you've got is going to take longer to move. It means the world can move fewer goods.”
TradeWinds reports today (2 April) that shipping giant Maersk noted in its financial forecast for 2024 that that it expects the disruption in the Red Sea to last until at least the end of the year.
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