The United States’ efforts to form an international coalition to protect navigation in Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea raises a question about who benefits from this. This is a month after the Yemeni Houthi group began targeting Israeli ships or those transporting Israeli goods in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to continuous Israeli aggression for 81 days, causing the death of more than 20,000 Palestinians and wounding 52,000 others.
On December 18, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced an initiative to form multinational forces from 10 countries under the name “Guardian of Prosperity” with the aim of deterring attacks in the Red Sea.
The ten countries are Britain, France, Canada, Italy, Bahrain, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain, in addition to the United States, amid talk of the participation of other countries that prefer not to announce their names.
With the continuing attacks against ships linked to Israel, many container shipping companies announced the suspension of their flights through the Red Sea until further notice.
The most prominent of these companies are the 3 largest container shipping companies in the world: MSC, Maersk, CMI-CGM, as well as British Petroleum Oil and Gas.
Artificial crisis
An expert in international economics and energy affairs, Amer Al-Shobaki, says that the Bab al-Mandab Strait crisis was artificially internationalized, in an attempt by Western countries to expand influence against the Houthi group and alleviate Israel.
Al-Shoubaki added, in an interview with the Turkish Anatolia Agency, that the Houthi announcement was and still is clear that its attacks do not include all passing ships, but rather target the Israeli ones that carry goods for them, in an attempt to end the ongoing war in Gaza.
Neither the Houthi group nor any official Western sources announced that ships unrelated to Israel were attacked near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Al-Shoubaki considered that the pressure of major companies on Western governments by suspending navigation in the Red Sea came at the instruction of the American administration.
As evidence of this, he said that the Danish Maersk, the second largest shipping company in the world, is moving to restore navigation again to the Red Sea route despite the continuing Houthi attacks, considering that America aims to internationalize the Red Sea issue, and the step was artificial to achieve political goals.
Maersk announced in a statement on Sunday evening the imminent resumption of its flights in the Strait after suspending navigation on December 15, explaining that it had received confirmation that the coalition had begun its activity in the region as of December 24.
He explained that the announcement of the Prosperity Protector Alliance indicates a benefit to Israel, which imports more than half of its consumption from international markets, by mobilizing an international coalition to protect navigation.
90% of global trade is transported by sea, of which 12% passes through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, while more than 10% of oil transported by sea passes through the Red Sea, and 8% of natural gas, according to Al-Shobaki.
The economist continued that in the first days of the Red Sea crisis, liquefied natural gas prices jumped by 15% before reducing this rise to 8% in the past few days.
Al-Shoubaki considered that the passage of ships specialized in energy transport, via the Cape of Good Hope route south of South Africa, causes crises in some ports receiving energy, in addition to the shortage of ships, and will be added to previous disturbances in Europe resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Egypt is affected
Al-Shoubaki said that Egypt considers the Bab al-Mandab Strait of strategic importance to it, and the reason is that the Strait is the only gateway to the Suez Canal, and any effects affecting the Strait will have repercussions inside Egypt.
Suez Canal revenues are one of Egypt’s most prominent foreign exchange revenues, which annually exceed $9 billion, amid the government’s reliance on increasing navigation through the canal with the expansion of Egyptian waterway development projects.
Al-Shoubaki concluded by saying that Egypt is majorly affected by what is happening in the southern Red Sea… because the attacks forced more than 100 ships to change their destinations to the Cape of Good Hope route, and thus financial revenues were lost, in addition to the pending financial revenues, due to shipping companies stopping their flights.
Suez Canal revenues amounted to $9.4 billion during the 2022-2023 fiscal year ending last June, which is the highest in the canal’s history, as the number of ships that passed through the canal during the last fiscal year reached 25,837 ships.
