Overview
- After Houthi attacks threatened southern Red Sea passage, Aramco established a shuttle that moves crude from Yanbu to Egypt’s Ain Sukhna for transfer into the SUMED pipeline to Sidi Kerir.
- Ship-tracking and market data show Mediterranean shipments on the northern route rose roughly 33 percent to about 1.1 million barrels per day as a result of the shuttle.
- Tanker activity at Yanbu has fallen by more than one third, and at least four tankers have completed repeated Yanbu–Ain Sukhna runs that moved over 16 million barrels in recent weeks.
- Rerouting forces cargoes to continue through the Mediterranean and around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Asia, a change that adds nearly a month to delivery times and raises freight and insurance costs.
- The shift preserves flows to buyers but leaves the system fragile because further Houthi strikes, attacks elsewhere in the region, or escalation by other actors could prompt more disruptive and costly adjustments.