The Houthi advance in Yemen raises concerns about a key shipping choke
point
[September 12, 2026] By
DAVID McHUGH
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The capture of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a
strategic island by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen brings their
forces to the heart of a key choke point for the global economy: the Bab
el-Mandeb Strait leading out of the Red Sea.
The Houthis took Mokha on Thursday and on Friday captured Mayun, also
known as Perim, off Yemen's coast, two officials said, in a swift
advance that extends their reach near one of the world’s key commercial
lanes.
The strait had been a vital route for crude oil supplies from Saudi
Arabia to Asia after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was
restricted due to threat of Iranian attack — until Houthi targeting of
Saudi tankers largely ended that safety valve.
The Houthi advance is focusing renewed attention on the Bab el-Mandeb
Strait and further risks to shipping there, despite efforts by the
Houthis to reassure shipowners that vessels other than those covered by
their embargo on Saudi-linked shipping remain safe.
Bab el-Mandeb had served a key workaround for Saudi oil exports
The Strait of Hormuz was long the main highway for Saudi oil. But when
Iran choked off most ship traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, the Saudis
ramped up shipments through a pipeline running across the desert to
Yanbu on the Red Sea.
Oil loaded on tankers in Yanbu could head out of the Red Sea through the
Bab el-Mandeb Strait and then east to Asia. That helped the Saudis
maintain a share of their exports to customers there.
The Saudi Ministry of Energy said Friday that it had shut down the
pipeline as “a precautionary measure” after it was attacked the previous
day but did not specify who carried out the attacks.
The Red Sea route helped keep global oil prices in check, along with
other improvised alternatives. In recent weeks the U.S. military has
guided tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in defiance of Iranian
demands that ships pass through a vetting lane near the Iranian
coastline. And the United Arab Emirates has used a pipeline to Fujairah
on the Gulf of Oman to skirt the Strait of Hormuz.
Houthi attacks on shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait started in
late 2023 over Israel’s war in Gaza, leading many companies to abandon
the route because of safety concerns. Traffic overall remains down some
60% from levels before then, although it remains a key freight route for
goods moving between Asia and Europe.
Alternate routes have helped restore much of the Middle East oil
flows
In August, alternative routes helped restore some two-thirds of the
roughly 15 million barrels that transited Hormuz before the war. That
took some of the economic pressure off the U.S. amid politically
sensitive higher gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.
However, Houthi threats have weighed heavily on Saudi oil exports in the
Red Sea. In August, Red Sea oil loadings fell from 3.8 million barrels
per day to 2.2 million barrels per day, according to the International
Energy Agency. Overall, Saudi supply fell 2.3 million barrels per day to
6 million barrels, the lowest in three decades, according to the IEA.
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Foreign and Yemeni seafarers protest against Houthi attacks on
vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and along Yemen's Red Sea coast
in Mokha, Yemen, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik,
File)
 By now, “Saudi shipping has largely
routed away from this risk anyway,” said Richard Meade,
editor-in-chief of Lloyd's List.
While the Houthi advance “doesn't change the immediate risk profile"
because Saudi and Israeli shipping is already high risk, it does
raise the question of whether the Houthis, who have insisted that
other shipping is safe, will expand their threats if they face
further attack, Meade said.
“It puts the Houthis in a strong position to take further control if
they want to,” he said.
Meanwhile, increased attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz
this week have put use of the U.S. route on hold. Iran said it
attacked 10 ships there Wednesday after the U.S hit five Iranian
tankers.
The Suez Canal is a workaround for the workaround
With the Houthis threatening Bab el-Mandeb, Saudi tankers have
turned northwest instead of southeast from Yanbu and headed for the
Suez Canal.
Tankers that are too big to pass through the canal have offloaded
oil at Ain Sokhna in Egypt to a pipeline to Sidi Kerir on the
Mediterranean coast, where the oil is picked up by tanker. Some 70%
of Yanbu crude exports are now heading that way, either by pipeline
or by tanker, according to Lloyd's.
That, however, is a time-consuming and expensive workaround for
customers in Asia, since ships must then transit the Mediterranean,
pass the Strait of Gibraltar and sail around the Cape of Good Hope
at the southern tip of Africa. The Suez route enables the Saudis to
redirect as much as 3 million barrels per day.
But that more than doubles transit time to an Asian destination like
South Korea, from 24 days to 54 days, according to senior research
analyst Victoria Grabenwöger at energy data firm Kpler.
That adds to the cost, given that tankers cost tens of thousands of
dollars per day to charter even in normal times, while prices have
risen in some cases above $100,000 per day during the current global
energy turmoil.
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