The Houthi's have been using the war in Gaza as an excuse to attack all shipping travelling through the Red Sea. If you can recall when the attacks first happened this was under the pretense of attacking Israeli owned or ships connected to Israel. This is not the case and has never been the case because this is not the reason for these unprovoked attacks. This is all about money and funding their terrorist activities. Shipping companies don' mind either as their profits have also increased benefitting from the crisis which I will explain how further in the post.
The Suez Canal has seen their revenue cut in half as the number of vessels using this transit route as dropped off significantly. On average 100 container ships travelled daily through the Red Sea in 2022 and this year the average is below 40.
No way are shipping companies spending that much more besides fuel and time which could be justified by adding an extra 20% or 30%, but 173% they are just greedy bastards.
The top shipping companies using the Red Sea route heil from Russia, China UAE and Greece with everyone else having moved to the longer route around The Cape Of Good Hope (Cape Town). There has been 130 attacks on vessels between November 2023 and July of this year. It is no secret Russia has been supporting the Houthi's yet even Russian owned ships and ships transporting Russian cargo have been attacked. The main reason is the shipping data the Houthi's have been using is outdated.
There is an unofficial toll being charged for ships requiring safe passage through the Houthi controlled area which is fueling the situation even more and why this was never about Israel and Gaza. Russia was happy to help support the idea of making the Suez Canal an unpopular option with the hope their Northern Sea Route would grow in popularity directly benefitting, but the only ones benefitting are the shipping companies.
The long haul around the Cape is obviously impacted on shipping costs with the extended time and extra fuel required. There are no set standard rates which has allowed the shipping giants to collude and increase their costs inflating their profits. Another wide awake shipping company called Sea Lead based in Singapore has actually increased the number of ships they send through the Red Sea because going the direct route is cheaper and faster than travelling around Africa. You don't have to be the sharpest tool in the box to see what is happening here as this even with paying an undisclosed toll would seriously be very profitable. Sea Lead obviously has discussed and negotiated a special rate for their ships to travel safely.
The crazy thing is the Houthi's have now invited shipping companies to a webinar to discuss how they can make travel through the Red Sea safer. How about they removed themselves for a start because they are the problem. This is all about legitimizing terrorism and why no shipping companies should even consider joining in this discussion. This highlights how weak the world has become to allow this to get to this point. The US and UN has allowed this to escalate to this point.