4% of Tanker Fleet Caught in Red Sea Escalations: Oil Brokerage

About 209 tanker or 4% of the active tanker fleet are caught up in Red Sea escalations according to an Oil Brokerage note Sunday.

• It said Suezmax and Aframax/LR2 were most impacted at more than 5% potentially facing disruption.
• “We are already starting to note slowdowns in ships closest to the chokepoint and outright voyage re-routing for those farther away” Oil Brokerage said.
• Three tanker firms on Friday – operating more than 350 tankers - said they were pausing voyages through the Red Sea.
• The Combined Military Forces — encompassing both the US and UK navies — advised merchant shipping to stay away from the danger zone in the southern Red Sea following the airstrikes on the Iran-backed militant group Friday.
• Numerous vessels have diverted away from the passage after UK/US led air strikes on Houthi positions followed by a retaliatory cruise missile launch towards a US Navy vessel Sunday, brought down by air defense.
• “On Jan. 14 at approximately 4:45 p.m. (Sanaa time), an anti-ship cruise missile was fired from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon (DDG 58), which was operating in the Southern Red Sea. The missile was shot down.” US Central Command said via X earlier.
• Tanker Trackers flagged that vessels operating on certain trade routes via the Red Sea are signalling they have no connection to Israel/US/UK to try and secure safe passage.
• Qatar LNG vessel have avoided paused Red Sea transits highlighting the escalation in tensions through the passage in recent days – it had been among a handful of gas suppliers continuing to use the passage to get gas to Europe but has now had a change in confidence over security.