Cargo Ship Reports Attack Near Hodeidah, Yemen
On Sunday morning, a cargo ship reported an attack at a position off the coast of Yemen, where hostilities between Houthi rebels and the internationally-recognized government have been heating up.
UKMTO received a report of the incident at about 0720 hours UTC on Sunday. The master of a cargo vessel issued a distress alert at a position about 30 nautical miles to the southwest of Hodeidah, the largest Houthi-controlled seaport on Yemen's Red Sea coast. The master reported that the vessel was under attack by "unknown armed assailants."
The region has historically been under firm Houthi control, lowering the odds of a for-profit piracy incident. However, the Houthis - the sole instigators of attacks on passing vessels in the area in years past - ceased aggression against international shipping last year. The group recently renewed its threats against against Israeli ships only, citing Israel's territorial incursion into southern Lebanon, where Houthi-allied terrorist group Hezbollah holds sway. The national ties of the vessel involved in Sunday's incident have not been disclosed.
Multiple incidents have been reported off the coast of Balhaf, Yemen, in the Gulf of Aden. The area is on the east side of Bab el-Mandeb and outside of Houthi control.
On July 1, the crew of a vessel reported that a small boat approached, and that armed assailants initiated an illegal boarding. The attackers damaged equipment on the bridge and other nearby compartments while the crew remained hidden in the citadel. Later the same day, the master of a tanker reported a suspicious approach by a craft with four people aboard at a position about 85 nautical miles to the south of Balhaf.
On June 21, a product tanker reported an attempted boarding by five personnel in a skiff in the same region. On June 17, a vessel was attacked by two skiffs with armed personnel on board, and the merchant ship's embarked security team had to drive them off with small arms fire. On June 15, a vessel reported the approach of a small skiff. The assailants in the small boat opened fire on the merchant ship with an RPG launcher. A similar attempted attack occurred on June 9.
IMO Trying to Improve Safety of Navigation off Yemen
The IMO is advancing its Red Sea Project to improve security and the coordination of maritime situational awareness in the Horn of Africa and the waters off Yemen.
Under the project, the IMO supported a four-day workshop for the internationally-recognized Republic of Yemen governmemnt from June 22 to 25, 2026, alongside the European Union-funded Crisis Response Project for the Red Sea and the Western Indian Ocean. The workshop brought together representatives of all Yemeni agencies involved in policing and management of the waters off Yemen in the offices of the Ministry of Transport in Aden.
The workshop objective was to develop a roadmap for the establishment of two entities, a National Maritime Information Sharing Centre based in the headquarters of the Yemeni Coastguard, which exists in embryonic form already, and which then is to feed into the Regional Maritime Information Sharing Centre based 100 yards away on the Aden dockside in the Yemen Maritime Affairs Authority. The IMO was keen that these two bodies adopt the regionally-agreed 2023 Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment Information Sharing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as the foundation for Yemen’s national procedures. Indicative of the challenges ahead, these SOPs are not yet translated into Arabic, which will become an early task on the project roadmap.
The IMO and EU project is a regionally-coordinated project, so that littoral states in the area can share both information but also procedures to be adopted both for routine reporting and the handling of emergencies.
A separate project proceeding at the same time, sponsored by Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and EU donors, seeks to strengthen the capabilities of the Yemeni Coastguard. The UK has sponsored the introduction into service of two patrol craft, the Aden (IMO 4698611) and the Mayun, now based on Perim Island. This project has also seen improved coordination between what was the Coastguard and maritime patrols operated by the National Resistance Forces operating in the southern Red Sea.
Practical problems, however, are manifold. There has been a power struggle between the Minister of Interior Ibrahim Haidan, who sought to displace Major General Khaled Ali Mohammed Al Qumali as head of the Coastguard, a move quashed by the Saudis. Such internal conflicts tend to arise when individual ministries or departments win foreign aid support, and others seek to benefit as well.
Somali-based piracy is increasing in Yemeni waters, with the Secretary General of the IMO calling for the immediate release of 44 sailors being held hostage since March off Puntland on three tankers, the Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 (IMO 1099735), the Togo-registered?Eureka (IMO 1022823), and the St Kitts & Nevis-flagged Sward (IMO 917424402). More ominously, Houthi-Saudi relations have deteriorated, as talks to come to a general peace, which would involve Saudi subsidies and a lifting of the blockade have stalled; an outbreak of fighting within Yemen would once again threaten a rise in attacks on shipping passing through Yemeni waters.
Maersk and Hapag to Shift One Route to Suez-Red Sea Transit
Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have jointly agreed to again attempt a return to the Suez Canal and Red Sea transit for one of their shipping routes under the Gemini Cooperation. It is the second time this year that the shipping companies have attempted to revert routes to the region.
The first route to resume transits is one that sails between Asia, the Mediterranean, and Turkey. The company said the Majestic Maersk, a 19,000 TEU container vessel sailing under the flag of Denmark, would be the first to make the transit. AIS transmissions and the online schedule show the vessel departing Malaysia and tentatively reaching the Suez Canal around July 24.
Maersk said the decision was made after thorough assessments of the security situation in the Red Sea area. It highlights that the return to the route is faster, the most sustainable, and the most efficient way to serve customers. However, it said it will continue to monitor the situation, and it could necessitate reverting individual sailings or the wider structural change of service back to the Cape of Good Hope. Maersk reports it has contingency plans in place.
Being strongly encouraged by the Suez Canal Authority, Maersk made its first test return voyages in November and December 2025. It was the first time the carrier had sent vessels into the southern Red Sea area since late 2023, when several of its ships were shot at by the Houthis. By January 2026, Maersk was ready to restart some of its independent routes through the Suez Canal and Red Sea, and a month later, the Gemini Cooperation with Hapag announced the return of its first routes to the region.
The resumption, however, was short-lived. With the outbreak of hostilities at the end of February between the United States and Iran, Maersk and Hapag again suspended their routes. Through the Red Sea.
Maersk says the current return is the start of a process to build back transits. However, it warns that at this point, it has no specific timeline.
The Suez Canal Authority pointed out that in 2023, Maersk had made 1,158 transits with a total net cargo of 127 million tons. While shipping has slowly returned to the Suez Canal, the large fleet container carriers have lagged. CMA CGM has been the primary large carrier to restore routes through the region. The Suez Canal Authority had said it believed Maersk would be the lead and that other carriers would soon follow, restoring ships through the more efficient route.
No comments:
Post a Comment