The Houthi militia just made the global shipping crisis considerably worse. On June 8, Yemen’s Iran-aligned group announced an immediate partial naval blockade targeting Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea, specifically through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the most important maritime chokepoints on the planet.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Previous Houthi attacks between 2023 and 2025 slashed daily tanker traffic through the strait by more than 50%. Those earlier campaigns forced the global shipping industry into an extended, expensive game of avoidance, with vessels rerouting thousands of nautical miles to dodge the threat.
Major shipping companies, including Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, had already begun rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope due to ongoing regional threats. That detour tacks on approximately ten days to voyage times and inflates operational costs significantly.
Two chokepoints, one problem
The Strait of Hormuz, which sits at the other end of the Arabian Peninsula and serves as the gateway for a massive share of global oil exports, has faced its own disruptions since late February 2026. Iran’s effective blockade of that passage means two of the world’s most important energy transit routes are simultaneously compromised.
