Middle East Shipping Threats Rise as Owners Plot Best Course

By Weilun Soon, Grant Smith and Nicholas Lua

Jul 22, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Challenges to shipping in the Middle East escalated, as a call from Iran-backed Houthi rebels against servicing Saudi ports spurred unusual maneuvers in the Red Sea, while a European Union naval group raised its threat level for the waterway.

In the Red Sea, two Asia-bound vessels appear to be heading north toward the Suez Canal — a potentially much longer route — while others paused their journeys, tracking data showed. 

EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, an EU military operation in the Red Sea, raised its assessment of the threat level for transiting the area to medium from low, according to an advisory seen by Bloomberg News. The directive “recommends that merchant vessels linked to Israeli, U.S. or Saudi interests avoid transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden until the threat level decreases,” it said.

Global energy markets are on edge as the conflict between the US and Iran reignites, with both sides trading strikes for more than a week. At the heart of concerns are signs that exports via the Red Sea — a crucial conduit for Saudi flows rerouted from the Persian Gulf — are now at risk given the Houthi threat. Brent futures have spiked more than quarter this month.

The Houthi militant group in Yemen is ready to attack shipping from positions near the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a global monitoring body for naval security. 

In the Red Sea, liquefied petroleum gas tanker Gas King switched to sailing out of the region via the Suez Canal, after picking up a cargo from the Saudi port of Yanbu. Initially, the very large gas carrier — which appears to be heading for Japan — had been sailing south, only to u-turn.

A Greek-owned Suezmax, the Amazon, that had just departed the port laden with more than 1 million barrels of crude, had switched its destination to the Suez canal. The tanker is meant to deliver its cargo to India, shipping fixtures show.

It’s unusual for Asia-bound vessels within the Red Sea to head north given that route entails far higher costs because of the longer voyage around the African continent, plus additional fees to transit the Suez Canal. 

Read More: How Houthis’ Red Sea Threat Risks Bigger Oil Shock: Explainer

Separately, supertanker New Explorer, carrying Saudi oil and bound for Singapore, appears to be idling in the Red Sea after picking up a cargo from Yanbu, the data show. It’s unclear why the 2025-built vessel has come to a near-stop, with its current status showing “not under command”.

In addition, an Aframax vessel, Lahore, also came to a halt after receiving a Saudi cargo.

Earlier this week, a handful of oil tankers were seen pausing and u-turning from their planned routes, after several shipowners received an email from the Houthi rebels warning against calling at Saudi ports. Still, one of those vessels, Xin Long Yang, has since reverted to its original route, and is now sailing toward Bab el-Mandeb.

Meanwhile, loadings at the Saudi port of Yanbu — which receives crude flows from Persian Gulf fields via the kingdom’s East-West pipeline — appeared to continue Wednesday, with some tankers signaling that they’re berthed at the facility. On Tuesday, some Asian buyers of Saudi oil were still sending tankers into the Red Sea in the hopes of picking up their cargoes.

In the days ahead of the Houthi threat, the kingdom had exported record volumes of crude from its terminals on the Red Sea, shipping out 5.9 million barrels a day from the two terminals at Yanbu in the week up to July 17, according to tanker tracking compiled by Bloomberg.

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.

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