There are reports that today in the Red Sea, two merchant ships have already been shot down by Ansar Allah (Houthis) forces.
First, a container ship “Al Jasrah” flying the Liberian flag of the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd (which also has offices in Israeli ports) was hit by a certain “shell”, and a fire started on board.
After this, an anti-ship ballistic missile launched from Yemen hit another Liberian-flagged container ship, the MSC Palatium III, which also started a fire on board. They write that the ship belongs to the Swiss company MSC, which continued to cooperate with Israel even after the start of the current war. As I understand it, the Houthis were the first in the world to achieve a ballistic missile hitting a ship moving at sea in real conditions. That is, the Yemenis’ missiles are of course, Iranian, but it is clear that Iran could previously test them only against training purposes. In the footage, there is a trace from a launched rocket filmed in the Yemeni Taiz area. They write that the rocket was just flying towards the Red Sea.
It is difficult to say which anti-ship ballistic missile hit the ship, since Iran has created anti-ship versions with optical-electronic homing heads for several of its guided missiles and ballistic missiles, at least three of which were demonstrated by the Houthis in Yemen.
The first photo appears to be a variant of Iranian Fajr-4CL guided missiles or Fath-360 family missiles with an optical-electronic homing head, which were called Faleq in Yemen.
The second photo shows Iranian Khalij Fars anti-ship ballistic missiles (a variant of the Fateh-110 operational-tactical missile with a range of 300 km), which were called Aasif in Yemen.
The third photo shows an anti-ship version of the Iranian shorter-range Zoheir (Raad-500) ballistic missiles with a range of up to 500 km, which were given the name Tankil in Yemen.
During the video, various SM-2 launches from both fore and VLS cells are seen, as well a successful nighttime intercept
It happens as US Armed Forces continue extensive naval and aerial operations to defend the Southern Flank of the State of Israel in the Red Sea
The Red Sea is the eastern funnel into the Suez Cannel, and accounts for about 22% of the international container trade and about 10% of the global oil trade.
That Maersk is pausing all Red Sea voyages is significant because they operate 15.3% of the global container ship fleet, taking second place after the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), controlling 18.6%.
“Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice”, a Maersk spokesman was cited as saying.
The attacks appear to have escalated in the past several days with the ships’ connections to Israel appearing to be less direct. That suggests risks are widening beyond the Israeli theater. At least three container ships have been attacked or disrupted near Yemen in the past day or so.
If this materializes into closures at Suez Cannel, etc., oil is extremely mispriced. Also note that container ships, particularly those passing through geopolitical flashpoints like the Suez Canal, are subject to steep insurance premiums, which the shipping company then passes down to the consumer (an example of supply-side inflation, not really seen since COVID).
“Some war-risks insurers are in the process of applying higher additional premiums for the already listed high-risk area in the Red Sea,” said Despina Kalfa, general manager at the Greek branch of Aries Marine Insurance Brokers Ltd. Others are applying additional terms or even not offering cover where Israeli interests are involved.
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