14AUG

Seven ships veer clear of the strait

1 min read

09:56UTC

Seven vessels have diverted away from the Bab al-Mandab since the tanker strikes, according to ship-tracking data, closing the southern reroute in practice.

← Back to The ships Iran does not control are leaving Hormuz Jump to analysis ↓

ConflictDeveloping

Key takeaway

With ships avoiding both straits, Gulf-to-Europe crude faces the long route round the Cape and a wider insurance exclusion.

Seven vessels have diverted away from the Bab al-Mandab since the 22 July tanker strikes, according to ship-tracking data ¹. the strait, the southern passage past Yemen through which Gulf oil reaches the Suez Canal, had absorbed traffic pushed off the Hormuz route as the northern chokepoint tightened.

The diversions turn a single attack into a routing problem for every owner weighing the southern passage. Hormuz weekly transits had already fallen 66% before this ; avoiding the Bab al-Mandab as well leaves the long haul around the Cape of Good Hope as the remaining way from The Gulf to Europe, adding roughly ten days and the fuel bill to match. War-risk underwriters, who have held a Hormuz exclusion for weeks, now have a fresh southern-strait case on which to widen it.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Ship-tracking data shows seven vessels have chosen to avoid the Bab al-Mandab strait entirely since the tanker strikes began, sailing the long way round Africa instead. It is a small number so far, but it shows some shipping companies have decided the risk of sailing through the strait is no longer worth it, whatever the extra cost of the longer route.

Sources:Al Jazeera·Axios

Mentions:Bab al-Mandeb →Houthis →Cape of Good Hope →Yemen →

First Reported In

Update #160 · Houthis hit Saudi tankers; Brent tops $100

Al Jazeera· 23 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Houthis fire on the Saudi tanker Encelia

The tanker strikes prompted seven vessels to divert away from the Bab al-Mandab.

Occurred 21 Jul 2026

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This Event

Seven ships veer clear of the strait

Rerouting away from the Bab al-Mandab as well as Hormuz leaves the long haul round the Cape as the remaining option and widens the war-risk exclusion.

Led to

Riyadh founds a 43-nation naval bloc

The Houthi Bab al-Mandeb embargo (ID:5218) is among the injuries the new Saudi-led naval coalition answers.

Occurred 30 Jul 2026

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Zawtar municipality, Lebanon

Mayor Muhammad Ismail called the 12 August demolition of the Sheikh Naim Mahdi School the biggest blow of a month that has also taken a nursery, municipal buildings, and his own home. The school falls inside Lebanon's nominal ceasefire zone.

European Union

The EU's High Representative joined 31 other states on 13 August condemning Iran's use of the death penalty to silence dissent. The joint statement cites no single casualty figure, leaving the scale of what it condemns to three monitors that disagree with each other.

Hengaw

The Norway-based monitor recorded 67 Iranian executions in July alone, against the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center's full-year total of 916 and Iran Human Rights Monitor's roughly 463. None of the three reconciles its count with the other two.

Lloyd's List Intelligence and Kpler

Lloyd's List counted 78 weekly Hormuz transits to 9 August, down from 95, with non-Iranian-linked ships leaving fastest. Kpler-sourced reports for 11 August traffic diverge between outlets by more than double, leaving underwriters no single figure for the route.

United States Treasury

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax on 13 August that Washington will announce measures with more detail the following week. He named no instrument, sanctions target, or effective date.

United Arab Emirates

The UAE foreign ministry named the IRGC as the perpetrator of the 13 August attack on two ADNOC vessels, called it piracy, and invoked UN Security Council Resolution 2817. The statement follows five months in which every UAE shipping claim rested on Abu Dhabi's word alone.