Six Crew Killed on a Cargo Ship in the Bab al-Mandeb as Red Sea War-Risk Premiums Pass 1 Percent

Six people died aboard the Egyptian-owned cargo vessel Tihamah in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, Yemen's internationally recognised government said, blaming Houthi forces. Al Jazeera reported that the deaths are the first among seafarers linked to the Houthis since the United States and Israeli war on Iran began. Dawn reported that three Pakistani nationals were among the dead. The Houthis have not claimed the attack on the Tihamah, and separately said they struck a Saudi vessel in the Red Sea. The ship had left the government-held port of al-Mokha, and shipping databases list Egyptian owners and managers, according to Insurance Journal, which also reported a container ship hit by a missile off Pakistan in what sources described as an American strike.

The insurance market is repricing faster than the shipping market can adapt. War-risk premiums for southern Red Sea voyages rose above 1 percent of a vessel's value, from about 0.75 percent a day earlier and 0.3 percent before the Houthis announced a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia on 20 July, Insurance Journal reported. Al Jazeera has documented the same pattern across both chokepoints.

Traffic through the strait has fallen to about 32 ships a day, from 50 before the embargo announcement. The cost is not only the longer, diverted voyage around southern Africa. It is also the added premium that every remaining transit now pays.