Tankers Stream Out of Hormuz as Red Sea Risk Returns
Ten Japan-linked vessels including six supertankers carrying twelve million barrels of crude exited the Strait of Hormuz today, and a Saudi supertanker sailed for South Korea over the weekend — the strongest sign yet that Gulf energy flows are normalising. But a cargo vessel reported an attack by armed assailants off Yemen on Sunday, the first such Red Sea incident amid the hardening Saudi-Houthi standoff.
The two waterways are trading places: Hormuz, the war’s great chokepoint, is filling with tankers as the ceasefire economy takes hold and Qatar resumes shipping — while the Red Sea, quiet for months, produced its first attack just as the Saudi-led coalition threatens “unprecedented force” against the Houthis over the reopened Iranian air link to Sanaa. Oil slipped towards $71 this morning with producers also moving to raise output, compounding the falling risk premium. For Britain the net effect remains disinflationary — unless the southern flashpoint escalates into rerouting and insurance spikes. Watch Lloyd’s market war-risk pricing for the Red Sea this week.