Trafigura assesses Red Sea risks after Houthis attack tanker

Dubai — Commodities trader Trafigura said on Saturday it was assessing the security risks of further Red Sea voyages after firefighters put out a blaze on a tanker attacked by Yemen’s Houthi group a day earlier.

The US military said a US Navy ship and other vessels provided assistance after the Marlin Luanda was hit by a Houthi anti-ship missile.

“No further vessels operating on behalf of Trafigura are currently transiting the Gulf of Aden and we continue to assess carefully the risks involved in any voyage, including in respect of security and safety of the crew, together with ship owners and customers,” a Trafigura statement said.

Some shipping companies have suspended transits through the Red Sea, which is accessed from the Gulf of Aden, and taken much longer, costlier journeys around Africa to avoid being attacked by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi group, which began launching waves of exploding drones and missiles at vessels on November 19 in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

The Houthi attacks have primarily targeted container vessels moving through the Red Sea. Many fuel tankers have kept using the route.

A notable exception is QatarEnergy, the world’s second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which earlier in January stopped sending tankers via the Red Sea, citing security concerns.

Over several hours early on Saturday the Marlin Luanda’s crew battled a blaze in one cargo tank on the vessel’s starboard side, Trafigura said in a statement. By Saturday afternoon the blaze was extinguished and all crew were safe, it said.

“The vessel is now sailing towards a safe harbour,” said Trafigura, adding that the firefighting effort had been supported by Indian, US and French navy vessels.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Marlin Luanda issued a distress call on Friday and reported damage, US Central Command said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The USS Carney and other coalition ships were providing assistance to the tanker, it said.

India’s navy deployed INS Visakhapatnam, a guided missile destroyer, after receiving a distress call from the Marlin Luanda, which had 22 Indian and one Bangladeshi crew on board, an Indian Navy spokesperson said.

The tanker was carrying Russian naphtha purchased below the price cap in line with Group of Seven sanctions, a Trafigura spokesperson said.

US and British warplanes, ships and submarines have responded to the Houthi attacks on shipping in recent weeks with dozens of retaliatory strikes across Yemen against Houthi forces.

About eight hours after the Marlin Luanda incident, the US military destroyed a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Red Sea and ready to launch, Central Command said.

The missile “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region”, it said.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah television said on Saturday that the US and Britain launched two air strikes that targeted the port of Ras Isa, Yemen’s main oil export terminal.

It was not clear if this was the strike referred to by Central Command. The US Fifth Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British defence ministry declined to comment.

Reuters