Due to the influence of the Yemeni Husai armed forces, the number of bulk carriers passing through the Suez Canal is rapidly decreasing

On June 20, 2024, the global maritime transportation information publishing agency MarineTraffic announced on its official X account (formerly Twitter) that the volume of bulk cargo ships transported through the Suez Canal has sharply decreased.

According to data released by MarineTraffic, compared to June 2023, the number of bulk carriers passing through the Suez Canal in June 2024 decreased sharply from 118 to only 24, a decrease of 79.6%. The influence of the Yemeni anti-government forces, such as the Hussein armed forces, who launched attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea is considered the main reason.

The Husai militants have expressed their cooperation with the Islamic forces Hamas, which actually controls the Gaza Strip in Palestine. Therefore, since October 2023, when civilian vessels sailing in the surrounding areas are identified as vessels related to Israel, the Hussai armed forces have used cruise missiles, drones, and self destructing drones to attack, and have stated that as long as Israel does not stop attacking Gaza, they will not consider reducing their attack intensity.

In addition to the US and UK navies deploying warships immediately after Israel launched an attack on Gaza in the Red Sea region, the EU and India navies have recently dispatched ships to escort merchant ships, but the actual damage has not been contained. On June 18th, the House armed forces attacked and sank a Greek coal transport ship. In March of this year, British cargo ships were also sunk.

In addition, according to the Clipper website, which publishes global trade information, insurance premiums on the Red Sea route are soaring due to the sinking of Greek coal transport ships, which is expected to lead to further increases in costs for shipowners, and the number of commercial ships passing through the Suez Canal may further decrease in the future.