UK warns of armed skiffs

Britain’s maritime security reporting center has warned ships in the Gulf of Aden after multiple reports of suspicious skiffs approaching vessels near the Bab al-Mandeb approach, renewing attention on a corridor already strained by months of attacks and military activity. UK Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, said vessels should transit with caution and report suspicious activity as authorities investigate. The warning comes as Saudi Arabia has launched a new cargo service linking Jeddah, Salalah and Djibouti, adding redundancy on Red Sea routes. Brent crude was around $110 a barrel in mid-May, according to market data and financial media reports. ### What exactly did the British warning say? UKMTO said on May 24 that it had received “multiple reports” of vessels being approached by skiffs in the Gulf of Aden, according to media reports citing the agency. Those reports said one large skiff carried two ladders and another had six to eight people on board, with some individuals described as carrying weapons. (ukmto.org) A May 21 UKMTO incident notice gave a more specific example. The agency said a tanker 98 nautical miles north of Socotra was approached by a small craft carrying five people, and the vessel’s armed security team fired warning shots that caused the craft to alter course. UKMTO said authorities were investigating. ### Why does the location matter so much? The Gulf of Aden feeds into the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the narrow passage linking the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. (firstpost.com) That route is used by ships moving between Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal, making disruptions there important for container traffic, fuel shipments and insurance costs. UKMTO’s own incident summary showed how active the wider region has been this year. (ukmto.org) In a reporting period from Feb. 28 to May 22, the agency said it had received 49 reports affecting vessels in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, including 27 attacks, 20 suspicious-activity reports and two hijacks. ### Is this piracy, Houthi activity, or something else? (ukmto.org) UKMTO did not publicly assign responsibility in the notices surfaced on May 24. The agency described the events as suspicious activity and said authorities were investigating. Media reports tied the incidents to fears of piracy because of the use of skiffs and ladders near commercial ships, but those reports did not provide an official attribution from UKMTO. (ukmto.org) Separate commentary has linked Red Sea shipping risk to regional tensions involving Yemen’s Houthis and Iran, though the most sweeping claims about the area becoming a “no-go zone” came from secondary reports rather than official maritime advisories. ### What does the Saudi shipping move add? Saudi Ports Authority Mawani said on May 21 it launched a new shipping service connecting Jeddah Islamic Port with Salalah in Oman and the port of Djibouti. State-linked and regional reports said the service has capacity of up to 1,730 twenty-foot equivalent units. (firstpost.com) Jeddah, Salalah and Djibouti sit on a route that gives carriers another structured service across the Red Sea and its approaches. Saudi and regional reports presented the move as part of the kingdom’s broader logistics push under Vision 2030; some secondary accounts also cast it as a way to reduce exposure to other chokepoints, though that framing was not the central wording in the state-TV dispatch. (english.alarabiya.net) ### Has the market already reacted? Brent crude was reported at about $110.34 a barrel on May 20 by Fortune, while FRED’s Brent-Europe series shows prices above $100 in mid-May. Those levels indicate energy markets were already pricing in a significant geopolitical risk premium before the latest skiff warning. UKMTO’s next public updates are likely to appear on its recent-incidents page, where it posts advisories and incident summaries for commercial shipping. (english.alarabiya.net) Mawani has already said the Jeddah-Salalah-Djibouti service is in operation, with capacity listed at 1,730 TEUs. (ukmto.org) (fortune.com)