Houthi Missile Strike Hits Bahri VLCC Amzan in the Red Sea
Fire on the main deck of the 320,926 dwt tanker, all crew reported safe
A Saudi-owned VLCC has been struck off Yanbu in the northern Red Sea, extending the Houthi campaign against Saudi shipping to one of the kingdom's most important alternative crude export routes.
The 320,926 dwt Amzan was hit around 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu on August 24. UK Maritime Trade Operations said an unknown projectile struck the tanker, causing a fire on the main deck. All crew were reported safe and no pollution was observed. Security firm Ambrey said the Egyptian Navy responded to the vessel's calls.
Bahri, which owns the Saudi-flagged, 2014-built vessel, confirmed the incident and said it was coordinating with the relevant authorities.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree subsequently claimed the ship had been targeted with a ballistic missile as part of the group's declared blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. The weapon type has not been independently confirmed. The group also claimed attacks on a Saudi military convoy and a base, asserting that ten weapons trucks had been destroyed.
Yanbu sits roughly 1,000 km north of the Houthis' main operating areas in Yemen. That distance had made it a comparatively safe outlet, and it became a crucial safety valve for Saudi crude exports once disruption in the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
Yanbu crude exports had surged to around 3.8m barrels per day as Riyadh diverted barrels away from Hormuz. Since the Houthis declared their ban on Saudi port traffic on July 20, tanker calls at the terminal have fallen by more than a third.
Saudi Arabia has responded by rerouting some VLCC cargoes north through the Red Sea, including partial discharge operations at Egypt's Ain Sukhna before ships transit Suez and reload via the Sumed pipeline at Sidi Kerir. That workaround adds handling steps, port time and cost to every barrel, and it caps the volume that can move on any given day.
The strike is the latest in a sequence that has run since the group declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia and began hitting Saudi-linked tankers. War risk cover for the northern Red Sea has repriced accordingly, and owners with Saudi charterers face a narrowing set of routes that are neither exposed to Hormuz nor to the Yemeni coast.
