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At least five Qatari vessels carryingliquefied natural gas making their way to the Bab El Mandeb strait have been halted since Friday, Bloomberg reports. Some 209 oil tankers — making up around 4% of the world’s oil fleet — have started rerouting away from the Red Sea over the weekend, Asharq Business reports, citing a note from Oil Brokerage.
This includes Qatar’s state-owned LNG carrier QatarEnergy, which is pausing Red Sea transits pending a security update, Reuters reported. “It is a pause to get security advice, if passing [through the] Red Sea remains unsafe we will go via the Cape [of Good Hope],” the newswire reports, citing an unnamed senior source.
The alternative route around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope could add some nine days to European shipments, with current transit times standing at around 18 days, the newswire said.
Background: While the Houthi group hasn’t purposely targeted any oil tankers since the onset of attacks in November, Qatar — the second largest exporter of LNG to Europe — is likely to view the US-UK strikes as the beginning of graver tensions in the Red Sea. The two western navies advised merchant vessels to avoid Red Sea transit on Sunday amid their attack on Houthi bases.
ICYMI- The US, UK, and a handful of allies carried out a series of strikes on Houthi facilities across Yemen on Friday, in response to repeated Houthi attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea over the last two months.
Houthis strike back: Houthi militants fired an anti-ship cruise missile at an American destroyer in the southern Red Sea on Sunday before being shot down by US fighter jets, US Centcom reported.
Hapag-Lloyd prolongs Red Sea diversion: German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd will continue to reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope for at least another week since it pulled its fleet from the fraught waterway in December, it said in a statement yesterday.
Market reacts: Brent crude rose 0.5% yesterday to USD 72.50 / bbl.
OTHER TRADE NEWS-
UAE businesses to ditch European suppliers amid Red Sea crisis? UAE-based businesses are looking to diversify their supply lines away from Europe in search of alternate markets amid continued shipping disruptions in the Red Sea, Gulf News reports. With shipping costs from Europe currently over USD 1k per container, compared to USD 450 prior to the crisis, some businesses are looking to Turkish suppliers to cover their short-term, faster shipping needs, avoiding the added 15-18 days on the Cape of Good Hope route, CSS Dubai freight forwarding VP Roshmon Manoli told Gulf News.
