HOUSTON: Oil and fuel tanker traffic in the Red Sea was stable in December, even though many container ships have rerouted due to attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants, a Reuters analysis of vessel tracking data showed.
The attacks have driven up shipping costs sharply along with insurance premiums, but have had less impact than feared on oil flows, with shippers continuing to use the key East-West passage.
The Houthis, who have said they are targeting Israel-bound vessels, have largely attacked non-petroleum goods shipments.
The added costs have not made a big difference to most shippers so far because the Red Sea remains much more affordable than sending cargo around Africa. But the situation bears watching with some oil companies like BP and Equinor diverting cargoes to the longer route. Also, increased shipping costs are likely to boost exports of US crude to some European buyers, experts said.
“We haven’t really seen the interruption to tanker traffic that everyone was expecting,” said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a shipping analyst at Lloyd’s List.
A daily average of 76 tankers carrying oil and fuel were in the south Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in December, the area close to Yemen that has seen attacks. That was only two fewer than November’s average and just three below the average for the first 11 months of 2023, according to data from ship tracking service MariTrace.
Rival tracking service Kpler tracked 236 ships on average daily across all of Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in December, slightly above the 230 daily average in November.
The additional cost of sailing around the Cape of Good Hope off Africa rather than via the Red Sea would make voyages to deliver oil less profitable, she said.
“So, you’re going to try and go through,” she said.
Tanker traffic in the south Red Sea region briefly dipped between Dec. 18 and Dec. 22 when the Houthi group intensified attacks on vessels, averaging 66 tankers, but movements resumed after, according to MariTrace.
The Chevron-chartered Delta Poseidon traversed the Suez Canal and Red Sea at the end of December en route to Singapore, according to LSEG’s ship tracker. The Sanmar Sarod, chartered by Indian refiner Reliance, also crossed the Red Sea in late December to deliver gasoline components to the United States, data showed.
Chevron “will continue to actively assess the safety of routes in the Red Sea and throughout the Middle East and make decisions based on the latest developments,” a spokesperson said.
East-to-west disruptions have mainly impacted European imports of diesel and jet fuel so far, Kpler data suggest. Meanwhile West to East diversions have impacted some European fuel oil and gasoline shipments to the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and East Africa, Kpler data shows.