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Yemen used to be one of the most protected and richest nations in the world, and the port of Aden was a major destination for traders from all nations. Guess it's revenge time.
It would be pretty funny if western shipping companies gain a competitive disadvantage because everyone else takes the hint and stops shipping to Israel.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/us-allies-opening-new-front-in-middle-east-with-escalation-against-houthis-over-shipping-lanes.html
On Sunday, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), the Chinese state-owned fleet company, announced that it is halting all shipments to and from Israeli seaports. However, unlike its European peers, OOCL did not say it will stop sailing through the Red Sea. The implication, a shipping source comments, is that Beijing has declared its support for the Arab-led blockade of Israel, and will negotiate directly with Houthi and Yemeni officials so that OOCL vessels will be able to navigate safely through the Red Sea and into the Suez Canal, and vice versa. The commercial advantage to the Chinese is plain, the source said. Whether the Chinese Navy will send escorts for Chinese-flagged cargo vessels remains to be seen.
It would be a massive W for both Yemen and China for there to be no Navy boats.
Egypt had a chance to do the right thing voluntarily. Now the decision has been made for them by their betters.
I mean yea Egypt is very much a US puppet but even if they weren't they are still strangled by western imperialism and shares borders with a nuclear state which is more than willing to attack.
Egypt already has terrible inflation and their currency isn't doing so well. Good chance this will make it much worse.
Why are there so many ships sailing due east/west through the Atlantic? Are they headed to the Pacific?
I guess so, I thought they tended to avoid those seas and traveled north-west then southwest to get there. But I guess a direct route is easier.
I would've thought they would be going a bit more north-northwest for that, along the African coast. I thought that the seas west of South Africa are some of the roughest in the world, so I thought the route was a kind of upside-down U shape rather than a straight line.
