Attacks and Other Incidents in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Research evidence excerpt

Attacks and Other Incidents in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Deutsche Bank

Research

North America Industry Date

Shipping Weekly Voyage 6 July 2026

Attacks and Other Incidents in Red Sea and

Chris Robertson Gulf of Aden

Research Analyst

+1-212-250-9995

Last week, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre

reported three notable incidents in the Gulf of Aden (east of Bab al-Mandab) and

in the Red Sea (north of Bab al-Mandab) involving armed assailants. There were

reports of small craft with several person on board with small arms. Two incidents

took place in the Gulf of Aden and a cargo vessel north of Bab al-Mandab in the

Red Sea triggered a distress alert that the vessel was under attack by unknown

armed assailants. It is unclear from these initial reports if the armed attackers

were Yemeni or Somali in origin.

Since the start of the conflict with Iran and the closure and ongoing disruption of

the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has diverted oil and other commodities to the

west coast to ports like Jeddah, Yanbu, etc. Many of these cargoes then traveled

south through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and east out of the Gulf of Aden. Houthi

forces in Yemen have long been an existential and direct threat against

commercial shipping in this region and the recent attacks over the past few days

will likely result in increased war risk insurance and diverting of commercial

vessels, making shipping supply chains even more inefficient. Given the ongoing

disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, the timing of these attacks could not come at

a worse time. Should cargoes have to be diverted north, through the Suez Canal,

and around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope and east to Asia, this would add a

number of weeks to a standard voyage, removing effective capacity from the