Drone from Houthis in Yemen shot down near 'many' ships near Red Sea

A drone from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen was shot down in self-defense on Jan. 6 by the USS S Labone just south of the Red Sea, the US Central Command said.

The incident at about 9:30 am in Yemen (0630 GMT) in international waters was close to "many commercial ships," Centcom said on X, formerly Twitter. No injuries or damage resulted, it said.

The same day, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with US Senate Intelligence Committee members in a tent "to strenghten close Saudi-American relations," the US embassy in Riyadh said on X, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on a tour of the Middle East to try and tamp down regional tensions from the Israel-Hamas war.

The drone incident came three days after the governments of the US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK warned the Houthis against further attacks and called for the release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews or face "consequences." The Iranian-backed Houthi militias have repeatedly threatened to target ships with links to Israel in retaliation for the war in Gaza.

Nearly 15% of global seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, including 8% of global grain trade, 12% of seaborne-traded oil and 8% of the world's LNG, it said.

By Jan. 5, the Houthis had launched 25 attacks against merchant ships transiting the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Nov. 18, the US has estimated. A.P. Moller-Maersk joined the list of shippers avoiding the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Jan. 5 because of the increased security risks. Instead, ships are being diverted around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, adding about two weeks to voyages and raising shipping costs and emissions.

On the Southeast Asia-to-East Coast North America route, Platts-assessed container freight rates rose to $4,100/FEU Jan. 5, the highest since November 2022, from $2,250/FEU Dec. 15, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.

In the week to Jan. 4, 52 ships called at the South African ports of Durban, Cape Town and Richards Bay, up 80% from the previous week, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. Domestic supply has been ill-prepared to cater to surging demand, with South Africa reliant on one refinery, Cape Town's Astron, to obtain its 0.5% marine fuel.

As a result, suppliers imported fuel oil in record volumes in December. Durban imported some 853,300 barrels of fuel oil on the month, marking the highest level since Jan. 2018, according to S&P Global data.

Of the imported fuel supply, 33% was sourced from Northwest Europe and 67% delivered from the Middle East, mainly from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.