UK warns of armed skiffs

Britain’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, said on May 21 and May 22 it received reports of suspicious small craft near key shipping lanes in and around the Gulf of Aden, including one incident 98 nautical miles north of Socotra and another within the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor. The reports added to a run of security warnings covering waters that feed into the Bab al-Mandeb, the narrow passage linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. UKMTO said authorities were investigating and advised vessels to transit with caution and report suspicious activity. ### Where were the latest incidents reported? UKMTO said the May 21 incident involved a tanker approached by a small craft carrying five people 98 nautical miles north of Socotra. The vessel’s company security officer told UKMTO that the ship’s armed security team fired warning shots, forcing the craft to alter course, according to the agency’s incident log. (ukmto.org) The UKMTO products page also listed a May 22 suspicious-activity report within the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor, about 200 nautical miles west of Yemen’s coast. The corridor is one of the main protected shipping lanes used by merchant vessels crossing between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. ### Why does a skiff warning in the Gulf of Aden matter for the Red Sea? (ukmto.org) The Bab al-Mandeb sits between Yemen on one side and Djibouti and Eritrea on the other, and it connects the Gulf of Aden directly to the Red Sea. Any disruption on the Gulf of Aden approach can spill into traffic using the southern entrance to the Red Sea and onward routes toward the Suez Canal. (ukmto.org) The U.S. Maritime Administration said in April that U.S.-flagged commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Somali Basin faced increased risk from adversarial actors. Its advisory told operators to remain vigilant for hazards and current navigation warnings. (aljazeera.com) ### How broad is the recent security picture? UKMTO said in a May 14 summary covering the period from February 28 to May 22 that it had received 49 reports of incidents affecting vessels in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. The agency said those included 27 attack reports, 20 suspicious-activity reports and two hijack reports. (maritime.dot.gov) Those figures do not all relate to the Gulf of Aden, but they show the wider strain on commercial shipping across connected Middle East sea lanes. UKMTO said vessels should continue reporting suspicious activity while authorities investigate. ### What is the economic cost cited by Gulf officials and U.N. agencies? The United Nations Development Programme said on March 31 that the military escalation in the Middle East could cost economies in the Arab States region between 3.7% and 6.0% of their collective gross domestic product. (ukmto.org) UNDP said the estimate reflected a shock large enough to reverse more than a year of economic growth and push up to 4 million people into poverty. Arab News separately reported that attacks on energy infrastructure, shipping disruption and weaker investor confidence were hitting Gulf economies, citing that UNDP estimate. The warning tied maritime insecurity directly to trade, energy and investment flows across the region. (undp.org) ### How are Gulf states responding? Saudi Ports Authority Mawani said on May 21 it launched a new cargo shipping service linking Jeddah Islamic Port with Salalah in Oman and the Port of Djibouti. State media reports said the service has capacity of 1,730 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs. (undp.org) Gulf News said the route forms part of Saudi Arabia’s broader logistics strategy under Vision 2030. The service gives shippers another regional option as security risks continue to affect some of the region’s most exposed maritime corridors. (english.alarabiya.net) ### What should shipping companies watch next? UKMTO’s recent-incidents page continues to post new advisories and suspicious-activity reports as they are received. Vessel operators using the Gulf of Aden, the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor and the Bab al-Mandeb approach are likely to watch those notices, along with guidance from national maritime agencies, for any new incidents or routing changes. (gulfnews.com) (ukmto.org)