At least two ships were attacked by Houthis on Dec 18 in southern Red sea, at least two reported drones nearby or being approached by fast boats with armed persons.
Product tanker SWAN ATLANTIC (IMO 9790464, dwt 19998, flag Cayman islands, manager HANSA TANKERS Norway) was said to be hit by some kind of projectile SW of Mukha Yemen, while sailing in southern direction, en route from Yanbu Saudi Arabia to Reunion. Crew safe, there were probably some damages in hit area, extent unknown, understood minor. Tanker AIS is off since 1700 UTC Dec 18, she was entering Bab al-Mandeb at the time. Tanker owner said that there was no connection to Israel whatsoever, whether in ownership or port calls.
Container ship MSC CLARA (IMO 9708693, dwt 221517, capacity 19224 TEU, flag Panama) reported explosion in the vicinity of the ship, no damages, crew safe. Ship’s AIS off since around 2200 UTC Dec 17, she was sailing NW of Mukha at the time, en route from Saudi Arabia to UAE.
There were other distress messages from other ships, reporting at least one attempted attack by small boats, thwarted by armed guards on board; and drones flying near.
Not surprisingly, situation has become a chaotic one, with Houthis attacking the ships having no or dim Israeli ties, with attempts to attack ships by boats with armed teams, and missiles flying around. Either there will be some kind of harsh and unequivocal retaliation from US and NATO Navies, or the chaos will spread and choke this bottleneck.
Bulk carrier RUEN UPDATE
UPDATE Dec 19 0415 UTC: Under way in Indian ocean sailing south along Somalia coast, in the area where once main pirates dens were.
UPDATE Dec 18 1300 UTC: Under way, passing Horn of Africa, looking like she’s to sail south along Somalia coast.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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