Multiple ship attacks in Red Sea as Maersk Tankers requests Cape route option

Multiple ship attacks in the Red Sea were reported Dec. 14, as market sources said Maersk Tankers, one of the world’s largest tanker operators, has requested the option to bypass the risky waters for a longer route via the Cape of Good Hope.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a vessel explosion was reported as well as an unspecified incident near the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the Red Sea’s southern tip, and that a ship was ordered to sail to Yemen.

The UKMTO said on its website Dec. 14 it had received a report of a distress call of a vessel boarded by unknown persons approximately 700 nautical miles east of Bossaso, Somalia, and that authorities were investigating.

The Houthis spokesman Yahya Saree said on Dec. 15 on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they had carried out an attack against the Hong Kong-flagged Maersk Gibraltar boxship.

"[It] was heading to the Israeli entity. It was targeted by a drone and the hit was direct," he said.

He claimed the attack ensued after the ship refused to heed calls to stop. Saree said the Houthis had intercepted several ships bound for Israel over the last 48 hours.

Attacks would continue to "prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the Arab and Red Seas," until medical and food relief was made available in Gaza, Saree said.

Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, the Houthis, also backed by Iran and in control of large parts of Yemen since 2014, have attacked more than 10 ships while threatening to target any vessel with Israeli interests or heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned all international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.

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A spokesperson for the ship’s operator, A.P. Moller-Maersk, said the company was aware of the ongoing incident relating to Maersk Gibraltar while the vessel was en route from Salalah, Oman to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Bad el-Mandeb strait are extremely concerning," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the current situation was unsustainable for global trade and could not be solved by the global shipping industry on its own, calling for "political action to ensure a swift de-escalation."

Separately, market sources said Maersk Tankers, a subsidiary of A.P. Moller Holding that controls A.P. Moller-Maersk, was taking precautionary measures following the latest spate of attacks.

All tanker fixtures for voyages that would normally transit through the strait now must have "an option to proceed via the Cape of Good [Hope] for safety concerns," and the option would be exercised at Maersk Tankers’ sole discretion, the sources, who saw a company circular, said. This does not affect Red Sea voyages not through the strait.

Security analysts, governments and the International Maritime Organization have warned of rising shipping risks in the Red Sea after Houthi rebels announced their intention to join the Iran-backed Hamas in the ongoing war in Gaza.

"These incidents reflect an evolution in Houthi capabilities to disrupt merchant shipping," consultancy Dryad Global's CEO Corey Ranslem said. "The appetite for a large-scale intervention [by the international community] in the Red Sea remains uncertain unless the threat continues a drastic escalation."

Market impact

The conflict has led to a jump in insurance premiums for war risks in general and offered support to tanker rates, as some of the Houthis' targets do not have apparent Israeli links.

For example, while A.P. Moller-Maersk operates in Israel, the Maersk Gibraltar is owned by Hong Kong-based Seaspan Corp. The ship is not scheduled to call in Israel, according to A.P. Moller-Maersk’s website.

While some boxships have been rerouted via the Cape from the strait, which would add two weeks to voyages to Europe, Maersk Tankers is the first company in oil shipping known to have adopted the option. Ardmore Shipping, whose tanker was under attack on Dec. 13, said its operations were unaffected.

Using the longer route could avoid additional insurance premiums but result in higher bunker costs. A laden Aframax/LR2 would consume 38 mt/d of bunker fuel. The bunker price for very low sulfur fuel oil, the prevalent marine fuel, was assessed at $578/mt in Fujairah Dec. 14, according to Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Platts assessed the LR rate for shipping 75,000 mt of clean products from the Persian Gulf to the UK-Continent at $53.33/mt Dec. 14 compared with $42.67/mt Dec. 5, S&P Global data showed, though market sources earlier suggested the rally was more driven by increased loadings than attacks.

If large-scale rerouting of tankers occurs, it would be expected to push up the cost of shipping oil as ship operators could pass on bunker expenses to charterers and earn more from higher ton-mile demand.

The Middle East has exported an average 1.1 million b/d of crude and condensate and 706,000 b/d of oil products to Europe so far this year, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. Most of the barrels are carried by Suezmax-sized tankers or smaller that under normal conditions could use the Suez Canal to reduce transit time.