After Covid and Ukraine war, another supply-chain disruption taking shape?
global trade and economy refuse to abate. After Covid and the Ukraine war ravaged global supplies, creating energy and food crises in many parts of the world, another risk has started building up. The Israel-Hamas war, even though it hasn't spilled over to other countries, is threatening a wider disruption of trade and supplies.
Days after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened to target Israeli vessels in the Red Sea over Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, they seized a ship owned by an Israeli businessman and rerouted it towards the Yemeni coast.
The seizure threatens not just Israeli shipping but the whole traffic in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Even the seized ship which the Houthis say is owned by an Israeli company bears not just Israeli interests.
The automobile carrier Galaxy Leader flies a Bahamas flag and is registered to an Isle of Man-based company which is in turn linked to another company from Israel. The ship was chartered by Japanese Nippon Yusen, had departed from Korfez in Turkey, was headed to Pipavav in India, and carried staff of various nationalities. Clearly, targeting of ships by Houthi rebels jeopardises global interests even without considering the risk of other ships getting targeted by mistake or ships avoiding the route due to escalated risk.
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