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Saudi crude tanker transits Bab el-Mandeb with transponder off
The Merbabu tanker, reportedly owned by a Greek company, switched to AIS tracking after emerging in the Arabian Sea late Thursday amid higher Red Sea risk.
OilPrice reports at least one oil tanker carrying Saudi crude oil transited the Bab al-Mandeb Strait with its transponder switched off as risks to vessels in the Red Sea rose after the Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi shipments and targeted vessels offshore Yemen.
The tanker, identified as the Merbabu, used a so called dark mode during the crossing, a practice that shippers and tanker operators had used for months to move undetected. It later emerged in the Arabian Sea late on Thursday with AIS positioning signal on, according to tanker tracking data monitored by Bloomberg.
Tracking data also showed the vessel previously broadcast from the Red Sea three days earlier. In that earlier transmission, it displayed text including “NO LINK ISRAEL UK US,” according to MarineTraffic data.
OilPrice adds that traffic at Bab al-Mandeb had not collapsed, unlike the Strait of Hormuz, and vessels continued to move in and out of the Red Sea on Friday, including China-bound tankers. Earlier this week, the Iran-aligned Houthis expanded their campaign against maritime traffic by targeting Saudi oil shipments through Bab el-Mandeb, the key Red Sea chokepoint Saudi Arabia uses to bypass Hormuz.
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