The Houthi movement declares a blockade on vessels calling at Saudi ports at Bab el-Mandeb. Vessel traffic through the strait falls by about a quarter, and Saudi Arabia reroutes Asia-bound crude through the Suez Canal — turning a voyage from Yanbu to South Korea of about twenty-four days into one of about fifty-four.
Why it mattersSaudi Arabia's east–west pipeline exists to move oil away from a contested strait and delivers it to a second one. From this point the region's principal Hormuz alternative depends on a waterway that is itself contested, which is why the module treats the two straits as one coupled system.
Confidence: ModerateSources: Established international media reporting · Congressional Research Service — Iran, the Gulf and the Strait of HormuzMethodologyCorrections
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