5 ms·

Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, merchant traffic through Suez Canal down >50%

46 points by NavinF 2y ago

NavinF 2y ago
>In the last week, Houthi forces killed a merchant mariner, sunk a commercial ship and forced a crew to abandon another in flames. The attacks come as the Houthis continue to escalate its eight-month campaign against commercial traffic in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. >Comparative data from Marine Traffic suggests that the Houthi attacks have led to a 79.6 percent drop in drybulk carriers going through the Suez Canal in June 2024 versus June 2023. The recent attacks and sinking of Tutor is expected to lead to an additional rise in insurance costs for companies planning to send ships through the Red Sea.
xnx 2y ago
11 hours ago | 81 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830
richrichie 2y ago
[flagged]
- arnon 2y ago
  "A terrorist organization promised to only do one thing and not the other"
  - hathym 2y ago
    The other side are bombing children everyday and nobody are calling them terrorists.. what a weird world we are living in.
    - blackoil 2y ago
      It has always been same. "Might is Right".
- woodruffw 2y ago
  Genuine question: are the Houthis sufficiently organized to make a credible statement like this? It's clear that they have modern weapons, but relatively little reporting has clarified a reporting structure that would give any person doing international shipping the trust they would likely need to believe that kind of public statement.
  - Terr_ 2y ago
    > Genuine question: are the Houthis sufficiently organized to make a credible statement like this? I imagine nowadays you can check "list all ships that have itineraries leaving [an Israeli port] to [anywhere]" online, and knowing a ship identifier track its reported position and progress on a handy little map until it's in range for scouting and attack. (Unless the crew does some transponder malarkey.) So I'd expect any "they didn't hit who they said they'd hit" controversy will involve disagreements over the "true" ownership or itinerary.
    - woodruffw 2y ago
      > I imagine nowadays you can check "did this ship recently depart an Israeli port" in a few minutes online, and then see its approximate position and progress on a map. (Unless the crew does some transponder malarkey.) I tried this with the two ships in the article, and couldn't get a definitive answer. One of the ships hasn't had an online update since well over a month ago, when it was in SE Asia. Maybe there's a paid option that gives more detail or newer updates. (But this doesn't answer the underlying question: is there a reason to believe that the Houthis have a command structure that is capable of stopping opportunistic attacks?)
      - Terr_ 2y ago
        > Maybe there's a paid option that gives more detail or newer updates. Or one of the Houthi rebels has a cousin who works in the industry and can query a not-so-public/free database. Either way, I'm saying it's not quite as tangled or secret as, say, banking privacy or corporate ownership structures, especially since big cargo ships are hard to hide when they come into any port.
- DougBTX 2y ago
  FTA: > The Houthis first attacked commercial ships connected to Israel, expanding to those with ties to the U.S. and United Kingdom following coordinated strikes by the two countries, in partnership with other nations. The Yemen-based group then began to attack any ship going to or from Israel, as well, before declaring they would attack nearly any commercial ship transiting through the Red Sea, as well the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, USNI News previously reported. The Houthis have also claimed they would target some ships in the Mediteranean Sea.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- fjkdlsjflkds 2y ago
  > their sanctions list Can't seem to find their sanctions list. Is it this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slogan_of_the_Houthi_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slogan_of_the_Houthi_movement ?
Despegar 2y ago
The Houthis didn't find out why Americans don't have healthcare.
- dullcrisp 2y ago
  They’re squarely in the fuck around stage
  - richrichie 2y ago
    The US have been fucking around in Yemen for the past 14 years. Yes, 14 years. Houthis have survived all that we could throw on them. https://www.justsecurity.org/80806/still-at-war-the-united-states-in-yemen/ https://www.justsecurity.org/80806/still-at-war-the-united-s...
  - sudosysgen 2y ago
    Not really. They have survived very large scale US-Saudi bombing campaigns in the past and managed to maintain deterrence against Saudi infrastructure throughout, so unless the US invades in foot there will be no more finding out. And of course, if the US does, it will likely also do a significant amount of "finding out".
    - hathym 2y ago
      You place too much trust in U.S. troops. They invaded Afghanistan, spent twenty years and trillions of dollars, and left it like they were never there. It's like an expensive vacation where they forgot the souvenirs!
      - bishbosh 2y ago
        I read their comment as the US finding out.
darthrupert 2y ago
Protectionism without tariffs.
feedforward 2y ago
[flagged]
Cody-99 2y ago
Making an already rough economic situation in Egypt even worse.
joeyo 2y ago
Off-topic: in the photo lede at the top of the article, are the rescued merchant mariners wearing standard eye/ear protection or is something else going on? Based on how they are holding the shoulder of the person in front of them, it almost looks like they are blindfolded.
- maxbond 2y ago
  I can see what you mean, but if you zoom all the way in on the man looking into the camera, you can just see their left eye (right from our perspective). I think this is a buddy-system safety measure for crossing an unfamiliar, loud, hectic, and hazardous environment.
- bewaretheirs 2y ago
  I think that's standard eye/ear protection. It would look really bad to lose someone after landing on the carrier. The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a loud, confusing, and dangerous place. I imagine they were told something like "this is not a time or place for sightseeing. hang on to the person in front of you and they'll lead you to a safe place below decks".
- csomar 2y ago
  I am guessing it’s helicopter's gear.
bparsons 2y ago
Pretty incredible that trillions of dollars can't buy a capability that can defeat these guys. What is the purpose of spending all of this money?
- hulitu 2y ago
  Peace does not increase profits from arms sales.
- oldpersonintx 2y ago
  [dead]
- rasz 2y ago
  "these guys" are pawns of Iran. There is no political will to rock the fuel prices boat before election (US even threatened Ukraine with stopping support for attacking russian refineries). US doesnt run sorties on Iranian rocket factories, only Israel did few limited raids. Destroy Iranian factories and supply of rockets will stop.
- amenhotep 2y ago
  You're being ridiculous. American military spending has produced enough power to defeat this many times over. You have the power to invade and occupy the country, you have the power to indiscriminately destroy trucks and civilian infrastructure that might be transporting missiles, you have the power to enforce a total blockade, there are many helpful things you could do. The problem is, of course, that you don't want to for the very sensible reason that it would be a political and humanitarian nightmare.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
hathym 2y ago
Yemenis just released a very funny song about the red sea attacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnIUdYM8Uw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnIUdYM8Uw
- defrost 2y ago
  Rock El Casbah
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  That 5-lead ECG placement needs work, but I'm really digging the jambiyas. Who needs (floppy!) ties?
alephnerd 2y ago
This has caused the UAE and Israel to implement a trans-shipment land-bridge as a trial run for IMEC [0] and the IN-UAE segment should be operationalized in the next 3 months. Not much incentive for Gulf States to deal with the Houthis when this basically forces shippers to use an alpha version of the IMEC. [0] - https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-trucknet-sets-up-a-gulf-israel-egypt-land-bridge https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-trucknet-sets-up-a-gul... [1] - https://theprint.in/india/india-uae-shipping-leg-of-imec-to-be-operationalised-in-first-100-days-of-modi-govt/2141969/ https://theprint.in/india/india-uae-shipping-leg-of-imec-to-...
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  If only they could get the trucknet folk to extend IMEC a little to the east, across the Kra Isthmus, IMEC could be rebranded as "Two Belts, Two Roads"?

46 points by NavinF 2y ago

>In the last week, Houthi forces killed a merchant mariner, sunk a commercial ship and forced a crew to abandon another in flames. The attacks come as the Houthis continue to escalate its eight-month campaign against commercial traffic in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. >Comparative data from Marine Traffic suggests that the Houthi attacks have led to a 79.6 percent drop in drybulk carriers going through the Suez Canal in June 2024 versus June 2023. The recent attacks and sinking of Tutor is expected to lead to an additional rise in insurance costs for companies planning to send ships through the Red Sea.

xnx 2y ago

11 hours ago | 81 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830

richrichie 2y ago

[flagged]

arnon 2y ago
"A terrorist organization promised to only do one thing and not the other"
- hathym 2y ago
  The other side are bombing children everyday and nobody are calling them terrorists.. what a weird world we are living in.
  - blackoil 2y ago
    It has always been same. "Might is Right".
woodruffw 2y ago
Genuine question: are the Houthis sufficiently organized to make a credible statement like this? It's clear that they have modern weapons, but relatively little reporting has clarified a reporting structure that would give any person doing international shipping the trust they would likely need to believe that kind of public statement.
- Terr_ 2y ago
  > Genuine question: are the Houthis sufficiently organized to make a credible statement like this? I imagine nowadays you can check "list all ships that have itineraries leaving [an Israeli port] to [anywhere]" online, and knowing a ship identifier track its reported position and progress on a handy little map until it's in range for scouting and attack. (Unless the crew does some transponder malarkey.) So I'd expect any "they didn't hit who they said they'd hit" controversy will involve disagreements over the "true" ownership or itinerary.
  - woodruffw 2y ago
    > I imagine nowadays you can check "did this ship recently depart an Israeli port" in a few minutes online, and then see its approximate position and progress on a map. (Unless the crew does some transponder malarkey.) I tried this with the two ships in the article, and couldn't get a definitive answer. One of the ships hasn't had an online update since well over a month ago, when it was in SE Asia. Maybe there's a paid option that gives more detail or newer updates. (But this doesn't answer the underlying question: is there a reason to believe that the Houthis have a command structure that is capable of stopping opportunistic attacks?)
    - Terr_ 2y ago
      > Maybe there's a paid option that gives more detail or newer updates. Or one of the Houthi rebels has a cousin who works in the industry and can query a not-so-public/free database. Either way, I'm saying it's not quite as tangled or secret as, say, banking privacy or corporate ownership structures, especially since big cargo ships are hard to hide when they come into any port.
DougBTX 2y ago
FTA: > The Houthis first attacked commercial ships connected to Israel, expanding to those with ties to the U.S. and United Kingdom following coordinated strikes by the two countries, in partnership with other nations. The Yemen-based group then began to attack any ship going to or from Israel, as well, before declaring they would attack nearly any commercial ship transiting through the Red Sea, as well the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, USNI News previously reported. The Houthis have also claimed they would target some ships in the Mediteranean Sea.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
fjkdlsjflkds 2y ago
> their sanctions list Can't seem to find their sanctions list. Is it this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slogan_of_the_Houthi_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slogan_of_the_Houthi_movement ?

Despegar 2y ago

The Houthis didn't find out why Americans don't have healthcare.

dullcrisp 2y ago
They’re squarely in the fuck around stage
- richrichie 2y ago
  The US have been fucking around in Yemen for the past 14 years. Yes, 14 years. Houthis have survived all that we could throw on them. https://www.justsecurity.org/80806/still-at-war-the-united-states-in-yemen/ https://www.justsecurity.org/80806/still-at-war-the-united-s...
- sudosysgen 2y ago
  Not really. They have survived very large scale US-Saudi bombing campaigns in the past and managed to maintain deterrence against Saudi infrastructure throughout, so unless the US invades in foot there will be no more finding out. And of course, if the US does, it will likely also do a significant amount of "finding out".
  - hathym 2y ago
    You place too much trust in U.S. troops. They invaded Afghanistan, spent twenty years and trillions of dollars, and left it like they were never there. It's like an expensive vacation where they forgot the souvenirs!
    - bishbosh 2y ago
      I read their comment as the US finding out.

darthrupert 2y ago

Protectionism without tariffs.

feedforward 2y ago

[flagged]

Cody-99 2y ago

Making an already rough economic situation in Egypt even worse.

joeyo 2y ago

Off-topic: in the photo lede at the top of the article, are the rescued merchant mariners wearing standard eye/ear protection or is something else going on? Based on how they are holding the shoulder of the person in front of them, it almost looks like they are blindfolded.

maxbond 2y ago
I can see what you mean, but if you zoom all the way in on the man looking into the camera, you can just see their left eye (right from our perspective). I think this is a buddy-system safety measure for crossing an unfamiliar, loud, hectic, and hazardous environment.
bewaretheirs 2y ago
I think that's standard eye/ear protection. It would look really bad to lose someone after landing on the carrier. The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a loud, confusing, and dangerous place. I imagine they were told something like "this is not a time or place for sightseeing. hang on to the person in front of you and they'll lead you to a safe place below decks".
csomar 2y ago
I am guessing it’s helicopter's gear.

bparsons 2y ago

Pretty incredible that trillions of dollars can't buy a capability that can defeat these guys. What is the purpose of spending all of this money?

hulitu 2y ago
Peace does not increase profits from arms sales.
oldpersonintx 2y ago
[dead]
rasz 2y ago
"these guys" are pawns of Iran. There is no political will to rock the fuel prices boat before election (US even threatened Ukraine with stopping support for attacking russian refineries). US doesnt run sorties on Iranian rocket factories, only Israel did few limited raids. Destroy Iranian factories and supply of rockets will stop.
amenhotep 2y ago
You're being ridiculous. American military spending has produced enough power to defeat this many times over. You have the power to invade and occupy the country, you have the power to indiscriminately destroy trucks and civilian infrastructure that might be transporting missiles, you have the power to enforce a total blockade, there are many helpful things you could do. The problem is, of course, that you don't want to for the very sensible reason that it would be a political and humanitarian nightmare.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40777830

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

hathym 2y ago

Yemenis just released a very funny song about the red sea attacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnIUdYM8Uw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZnIUdYM8Uw

defrost 2y ago
Rock El Casbah
082349872349872 2y ago
That 5-lead ECG placement needs work, but I'm really digging the jambiyas. Who needs (floppy!) ties?

alephnerd 2y ago

This has caused the UAE and Israel to implement a trans-shipment land-bridge as a trial run for IMEC [0] and the IN-UAE segment should be operationalized in the next 3 months. Not much incentive for Gulf States to deal with the Houthis when this basically forces shippers to use an alpha version of the IMEC. [0] - https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-trucknet-sets-up-a-gulf-israel-egypt-land-bridge https://www.ajot.com/insights/full/ai-trucknet-sets-up-a-gul... [1] - https://theprint.in/india/india-uae-shipping-leg-of-imec-to-be-operationalised-in-first-100-days-of-modi-govt/2141969/ https://theprint.in/india/india-uae-shipping-leg-of-imec-to-...

082349872349872 2y ago
If only they could get the trucknet folk to extend IMEC a little to the east, across the Kra Isthmus, IMEC could be rebranded as "Two Belts, Two Roads"?