The number of oil tankers rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope slightly dipped in the second half of February.

PHOTO; Number of tankers passing daily through the Suez Canal in February. IMF Portwatch

Yemen's Houthi rebel group has been attacking commercial ships in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and East Africa since last November.

Since then, at least 14 oil & chemical tankers have faced missile strikes, near misses, or threats from the Houthis, according to marine risk management firm Ambrey. These attacks had forced several tanker owners and operators to reroute their ships around the Cape of Good Hope instead of the shorter Suez Canal route.

It now appears that tanker traffic on the Suez Canal route is gradually gaining momentum again, following a sharp decline in the first half of February, in spite of ongoing security threats in the Red Sea.

Tanker traffic through the Suez Canal remained steady at 12-14 tankers/day between 24-27 February, amidst two more attacks on the US-flagged tanker Torm Thor and the Panama-flagged tanker Lady Youmna.

In the second half of February, an average of 13 tankers/day passed through the Suez Canal, up from 11 tankers/day in the first half of the month. Tanker traffic through the trade route dropped dramatically to as low as 6 tankers/day on 18 and 21 February, while 19 tankers/day transited the Suez Canal on 16 February, according to the IMF's PortWatch data.

Alternatively, tanker transit calls from the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope have inched lower. There were 19 tankers/day passing through the Cape in the second half of February, down from 21 tankers/day in the first half.

By Konica Bhatt

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