Saudi launches Red Sea route

Saudi Arabia’s port authority has opened a new container service linking Jeddah, Salalah and Djibouti as shipowners and traders contend with renewed security warnings around the Gulf of Aden. Saudi Ports Authority Mawani said the service was added at Jeddah Islamic Port with capacity of up to 1,730 twenty-foot equivalent units, according to Saudi state media reports on May 21. Two days later, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said it had received reports of suspicious activity in the Gulf of Aden, including approaches by armed skiffs near routes tied to the Bab al-Mandeb. The overlap shows how Gulf and Red Sea operators are trying to preserve trade flows while the security picture remains unsettled. ### Why is Saudi Arabia adding this route now? Mawani said on May 21 the new service connects Jeddah Islamic Port with Salalah in Oman and the Port of Djibouti and is intended to strengthen maritime connectivity between the kingdom and other ports. Saudi state media and regional outlets described the move as part of Riyadh’s broader logistics push under Vision 2030. The service gives shippers another fixed link across the Red Sea corridor at a time when route resilience has become a commercial priority. (zawya.com) Jeddah Islamic Port is Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea gateway, while Salalah and Djibouti sit near traffic lanes feeding the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint. By tying those ports together on one service, Mawani is adding a regional loop that can support import, export and transshipment flows without relying solely on routes exposed to disruption farther east. That inference is based on the ports named in the service and the geography of current shipping traffic. (zawya.com) ### What did the British maritime warning say? UKMTO said on May 23 it had received reports from various sources of suspicious activity within the Gulf of Aden and advised vessels to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity while authorities investigated. Its incident log also shows a May 21 case 98 nautical miles north of Socotra in which a tanker was approached by a small craft carrying five people and the vessel’s armed security team fired warning shots. (zawya.com) A separate UKMTO entry dated May 21 reported that a sailing vessel 54 nautical miles southwest of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, was approached by a skiff carrying about 10 to 12 people, of whom four to five were armed with automatic weapons. UKMTO did not in those notices assign responsibility for the incidents. ### Where does this leave shipowners and cargo owners? Lloyd’s List reported this month that Red Sea turmoil was continuing to affect shipping markets and global trade, with marine insurers warning that the crisis was exposing gaps in cargo war cover. (english.alarabiya.net) Its coverage also said Bab al-Mandeb traffic remained below 2023 levels even as some tanker transits rose during the separate Strait of Hormuz crisis. Those conditions matter because operators make routing decisions on both physical risk and insurance cost. (ukmto.org) Reuters reported in July 2025 that insurance costs for shipments through the Red Sea more than doubled after attacks on ships by Yemen’s Houthis. While that report predates this week’s incidents, it remains a recent benchmark for how quickly premiums can react when threats around the corridor intensify. (lloydslist.com) ### Is this route a replacement for Hormuz? The new Mawani service is not a substitute for all traffic that would otherwise move through the Strait of Hormuz. The route links three ports on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden side of the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, and Mawani described it as a connectivity measure rather than a replacement for crude export lanes. (marinelink.com) Still, the timing is notable. Lloyd’s List said on May 4 that the impact of the Hormuz crisis on container shipping had remained “highly localised” compared with the broader Red Sea disruption. That has pushed carriers, ports and cargo owners to build more redundancy into regional networks rather than wait for one security threat to fade before another emerges. ### What should shippers watch next? UKMTO said vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden should continue reporting suspicious activity as authorities investigate the latest incidents. (zawya.com) Mawani’s next measurable milestone will be whether the 1,730-TEU service maintains regular calls through Jeddah, Salalah and Djibouti as insurers, shipowners and cargo customers reassess exposure across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden corridor. (ukmto.org) (lloydslist.com)