Chinese VLCCs test Houthi blockade with Bab el-Mandeb transit
Two supertankers carrying four million barrels of Saudi crude head south past Yemen days after Houthi forces declared a naval blockade against Saudi shipping
Two Chinese-linked VLCCs carrying a combined four million barrels of Saudi Arabian crude are exiting the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, in an early test of the naval blockade Houthi forces in Yemen declared against Saudi Arabia earlier this week. The transit follows the group's warning that it would treat vessels calling at Saudi ports as legitimate targets, and its claim that its forces had already struck two Saudi tankers with drones and missiles.
The Singapore-flagged XIN LONG YANG made a U-turn and paused mid-Red Sea earlier in the week before resuming its journey south past the Yemeni coast, continuing toward a discharge port in southern China. A Chinese-flagged sister tanker was following close behind, also signalling a southern Chinese destination. Both vessels indicated Chinese crew aboard and were chartered by the trading arm of a major Chinese refiner after loading at a Saudi Red Sea port earlier in the week. At least two further VLCCs scheduled to load at the same terminal later this month slowed their advance and began circling in the Gulf of Aden rather than pressing on toward the strait.
The Houthi blockade notice, circulated to shipping companies, banned vessels from loading or discharging at Saudi ports from a set deadline and warned that violators could face targeting "in any location," extending the threat beyond Saudi-flagged tonnage specifically. Two Saudi crude tankers bound for Asia turned back in the Red Sea this week, opting to reroute via the Suez Canal rather than continue toward Bab el-Mandeb, in what maritime risk monitors described as the first confirmed change in tanker routing since the blockade was announced.
Traffic figures show the effect already taking hold. The number of vessels crossing Bab el-Mandeb fell sharply day on day, while transits of the separate Strait of Hormuz remained deeply subdued compared with levels recorded before the wider Middle East conflict resumed. At least one VLCC exited the strait with its transponder switched off, and further laden tankers were reported taking evasive routes off the Fujairah anchorage while carrying crude loaded elsewhere in the Gulf.
The parallel disruption to both Gulf chokepoints leaves Saudi Arabia's Red Sea export network as one of the kingdom's few remaining uncontested maritime outlets. Whether major charterers keep sending tonnage through Bab el-Mandeb despite the blockade threat, or begin diverting en masse, will be closely watched by insurers, refiners and rival exporters over the coming days.
