Only Grain Ships from Black Sea and for Iran Still Crossing Red Sea

Grain ships originating from the Black Sea or sure for Iran are about the one ones nonetheless crusing via the Red Sea as Houthi militants proceed to assault vessels within the space, analysts mentioned on Friday.

The assaults by the Iran-aligned Houthis have disrupted international transport since November and compelled companies to re-route to longer and costlier journeys round southern Africa.

“Just about all (dry bulk grain) vessels going from the Americas and western Europe are avoiding the Red Sea, the only exception is vessels going to Iran, they’re still taking the Red Sea route when shorter,” mentioned Ishan Bhanu, lead agricultural commodities analyst at information supplier and analysts Kpler.

“All vessels we are tracking going from the Black Sea to Asia are going through the Red Sea, almost without exception,” he added.

Grain transit via the Suez Canal hit a low of two.6 million metric tons in February, down from 5.3 million tons in February 2023, Bhanu estimated.

The United States and different international locations have despatched naval vessels to guard civilian ships whereas the U.S. and UK have launched air strikes in opposition to Houthi forces, who say they’re appearing in solidarity with Palestinians in opposition to Israel’s navy actions in Gaza.

“The Red Sea naval operation and air strikes have been going on for weeks now and it is pretty obvious that the Houthi attacks cannot be stopped easily by military means or that commercial ships can be given blanket protection,” mentioned one grain dealer reserving vessels to export cargoes from Europe.

“Many ship owners are still willing to accept the danger to their ships and vessels still can be booked for Red Sea sailings. Chinese purchases of Ukrainian corn recently are expected to transit the Red Sea.”

(Reuters – Reporting by Michael Hogan, modifying by Kirsten Donovan)

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