Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea are a blow to global trade

Until the Suez Canal opened in 1869, merchant ships in the mostly carried coffee, spices and slaves. The waterway changed everything. So far in 2023 around 24,000 vessels have plied the passage, accounting for some 10% of global seaborne trade by volume, according to Clarksons, a shipbroker. That includes 20% of the world’s container traffic, nearly 10% of seaborne oil and 8% of liquefied natural gas.So missile and drone attacks by in Yemen on ships passing through the narrow strait of Bab al-Mandab, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, apparently in support of Palestinians in Gaza, look like the latest blow to the shipping industry—and to its customers. It has struck just as both groups try to return to normality after the upheavals of the pandemic and, more recently, troubles which include a drought that has restricted large vessels from passing through the Panama Canal for several months.