Red Sea Chokepoints Deepen Commodities Supply Risk
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The Houthis have seized the Yemeni Red Sea coast, including the port of Mokha and Perim Island, giving them the ability to threaten shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This compounds existing disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, where flows have already been severely constrained.
Saudi Arabia has leaned more heavily on its East-West pipeline to bypass Hormuz risk, underscoring how commodities logistics are being reshaped in real time by overlapping conflict zones.
Freight costs are also climbing elsewhere: Russian Black Sea crude shipping rates on Aframax vessels have risen for seven straight weeks amid tanker shortages and Ukrainian attack risk, adding another layer of cost pressure to global crude flows.