The Israeli shipping company “Zim” announced yesterday, Wednesday, the diversion of its ships from the Egyptian Suez Canal, citing the situation in the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted the company as saying, “Due to the conditions in the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, we are taking precautionary measures, and will divert our ships from the Suez Canal.”
The Authority considered that diverting the ships would mean “a delay in the arrival of shipments to Israel.” The broadcasting authority did not clarify which alternative path the company would adopt.
It is noteworthy that a container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire was attacked last week by a drone in the Indian Ocean, according to what the Associated Press reported, citing an American official.
On November 19, the Yemeni Houthi group announced the detention of the Israeli commercial ship “Galaxy Leader” off the coast of Yemen, while Tel Aviv said that the ship was owned by a British company and operated by a Japanese company, and denied that there were Israelis on board.
The Houthi group vowed more than once to target ships owned or operated by Israeli companies “to support the Gaza Strip,” calling on countries to “withdraw their citizens working on the crews of these ships,” after repeatedly announcing that they were targeting Israel with a large number of missiles and drones.
The Israeli army also announced a few days ago that it had intercepted a drone that was on its way to Israel in the Red Sea region.
Threat to Israeli trade
The process of seizing the “Galaxy Leader” is one of the indicators of the new reality imposed by the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by the Palestinian resistance led by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of the Hamas movement) on the seventh of last month, as the process of seizing the ship came in implementation of a previous threat from the Houthis, They would detain any ships belonging to Israel, and warned other countries against dealing with Israeli ships.
This incident placed international trade traffic through the waters overlooked by Yemen before a new equation related to cost and security of trade operations. The event raises several issues that have political and economic implications.
It is noteworthy that the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which Yemen oversees, passes through 10% of international maritime trade annually, through the passage of about 21 thousand ships. 6 million barrels of oil pass through it daily.
The Houthi threat to ships dealing with Israel, which pass through Bab al-Mandab, would affect its trade with the East, especially with Asia.
There will be a high cost for the operation of Israeli ships that pass through waters near Yemen, either due to the risks of their detention, or the high insurance fees on them, which means a higher cost of operating these ships, and an increase in the wages they receive, whether from Israeli companies or from other companies.
