At least one tanker carrying Saudi crude slipped through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait with its transponder switched off this week, after the Iran-aligned Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi oil shipments. Tankers crewed and bound for China kept clearing the Red Sea chokepoint, pointing to a campaign that tracks crew and ownership rather than cargo.
A tanker loaded with Saudi crude crossed the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in dark mode this week, switching off its transponder to move undetected as risks to Red Sea vessels spiked following the Houthi blockade on Saudi shipments.
That ship, the Merbabu, is owned by a Greek company and laden with Saudi crude, and it made the crossing using a tactic that shippers and tanker operators relied on for months to pass the Strait of Hormuz undetected. It resurfaced in the Arabian Sea late on Thursday with its AIS signal restored, after its previous broadcast had come from the Red Sea, according to tanker-tracking data. Three days earlier, that broadcast had signalled the vessel held no link to Israel, the UK or the US.
Houthis expand the blockade to Saudi crude
Earlier this week the Houthis said they had expanded their campaign to Saudi oil moving through Bab el-Mandeb, the Red Sea chokepoint through which Saudi Arabia has redirected most of its crude to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic there has not collapsed the way it did at Hormuz, however, and ships not carrying Saudi oil kept moving in and out of the Red Sea on Friday.
China-linked ships pass, others turn back
China-bound tankers appear to be passing freely, yet some vessels have reversed course: the Denmark-flagged products tanker Torm Innovation made a U-turn and is now heading north toward the Suez Canal. Two China-crewed, China-bound tankers loaded at Yanbu and cleared Bab al-Mandeb apparently untouched, maritime intelligence firm Windward said on Thursday. According to Windward, screening tracks crew and ownership rather than cargo: “Enforcement is calibrated to crew and ownership, not cargo.”
Saudi crude therefore keeps moving only aboard ships that sit outside the Houthis’ target set.
Source: Oilprice.com
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