Greek ships in Red Sea/Gulf of Aden issued with warning
Ships sailing under the Greek flag or owned by Greek interests operating in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been issued with an emergency warning to avoid Yemeni waters by the Greek Coast Guard.
The warning, issued on Saturday, follows the escalation in maritime attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on the world’s main East-West trade route.
The Coast Guard, in a warning communicated to the foreign and defense ministries, recommends that ships cross the southern Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at night if possible.
“It is recommended that only essential crew remain on the ship’s bridge, that crew members stay as far as possible from the ship’s exterior, that a fire drill be conducted before the ship reaches the Yemeni coast and that safety equipment is checked,” the document, which Kathimerini has seen, says.
The advisory also suggests that captains can deactivate the automatic identification system (AIS) to protect ships from the risk of piracy.
The Iran-backed Houthis, who say they are supporting Palestinians under siege by Israel in the Gaza Strip, have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict by attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and even firing drones and missiles at Israel, more than 1,000 miles from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Houthis attacked two commercial shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea on Monday.
Attacks on ships in the major Red Sea shipping route have raised the spectre of another bout of disruption to international commerce following the upheaval of the Covid pandemic, and prompted a US-led international force to patrol waters near Yemen.
The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal, which creates the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the canal.
Major shippers including Hapag Lloyd, MSC and Maersk, oil major BP and oil tanker group Frontline have said they will be avoiding the Red Sea route and re-routing via southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
But many ships are still plying the waterway, with several ships having armed guards on board.
At least 11 container ships which had passed through Suez and were approaching Yemen carrying consumer goods and grains bound for countries including Singapore, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, are now anchored in the Red Sea between Sudan and Saudi Arabia, LSEG shiptracking data showed. [Kathimerini/Reuters]
