MADRID (Reuters) – In a messaging group that mistakenly disclosed plans by the U.S. to attack Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis to a journalist, senior Trump administration officials including persons identified as Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Europe of “free-loading” and questioned whether the U.S. should be “bailing Europe out again”.
Here is how the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Houthis have affected trade for Europe and the U.S.:
WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN THE RED SEA?
The U.S. on March 16 launched large-scale military strikes against the Houthis that killed at least 31 people in response to the group’s threats to resume attacks against ships passing through the Red Sea.
The strikes came after the Houthis, an armed movement that took control of most of Yemen over the past decade, said on March 12 they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, ending a relative calm that began in January with the Gaza ceasefire.
There have been no seaborne attacks on shipping reported since that threat was made, though the U.S. and Israel say they have intercepted missiles and drones launched from Yemen.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen’s coast, which they say were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas militants.
The attacks caused traffic passing through the Suez canal to fall by 75% in 2024 and have increased transit times by an average seven to 14 days, as shipping companies take longer alternative routes, according to U.S.-based supply chain management technology company project44.
They have also forced the U.S. military into a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones that have burned through its stocks of air defences.
WHAT HAS PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAID ABOUT THE U.S. STRIKES ON THE HOUTHIS?
Trump warned the Houthis in a Truth Social post that “HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE” if they did not stop their attacks.
By launching the attacks, Trump’s government was “standing up to terrorism and protecting international commerce”, the White House said in a statement.
The statement said that, of the top 10 importers by value of trade through the Red Sea, five were EU nations. But it also said the Houthis have attacked U.S. warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023.
The Houthis responded that they were ready to “respond to escalation with escalation”, though no response has been seen so far.
WHICH SHIPPING TRAFFIC IS IT AFFECTING?
The Houthis have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
The attacks have affected the interests of at least 85 countries and at least 29 major energy and shipping companies, according to an April 2024 report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
The majority of the ships targeted were owned by European companies but at least eight were owned by U.S. companies, according to the report.
Many shipping companies began avoiding the Red Sea when the attacks began, taking costly alternative routes around Africa which have dragged down their profits.
Frankfurt-based Hapag-Lloyd’s Chief Executive Officer Rolf Habben Jansen said on Thursday he did not foresee a quick resolution to the crisis.
“Two or three weeks ago, I would have been more optimistic on when it will open; now, I am more concerned,” Rolf Habben Jansen said during a 2024 earnings presentation after the U.S. strikes.
Denmark’s Maersk said last year that diverting shipping round Africa’s Cape of Good Hope was having a “cascading impact” by causing congestion in alternative route hubs.
Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said in February that either the Houthis would have to experience “a full degradation of their capabilities (to launch attacks)” or there would need to be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza for shipping to return to the Red Sea.
WHAT ARE COUNTRIES DOING TO COUNTER THE HOUTHIS?
In December 2023, former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced a multinational coalition of at least 20 countries called Operation Prosperity Guardian to safeguard shipping through the Red Sea.
It included Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain.
In February 2024, the European Union created Operation Aspides after France and other countries rejected the U.S.-led mission because they were unwilling to come under U.S. command.
Aspides has intercepted four ballistic missiles, 18 aerial drones and two sea drones while it has protected more than 400 commercial ships, according to an EU official.
Aspides said last week that there was an immediate decrease in traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait after the U.S. air strikes on Yemen.
Separately, Britain carried out five joint airstrikes with the U.S. against Houthi sites last year. The U.S. has conducted separate strikes, which are continuing.
Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand provided non-operational support for the joint strikes.
On March 18, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters Starmer and Trump had discussed U.S. strikes against Houthi targets, which Britain had supported with routine air-to-air refuelling.
French warships previously accompanied vessels from French shipper CMA-CGM, but the company stopped its shipments through the Red Sea in February 2024 and in January said it was still not ready to resume those operations because of ongoing security concerns.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Jonathan Saul in London, John Irish in Paris, Lili Bayer in Brussels and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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