Maritime tracking analysis: the Houthi blockade at Bab el-Mandeb is enforced by ship affiliation, not by cargo

According to an Al Jazeera report on Friday, 24 July 2026, data from the maritime analysis firm Windward show that a cargo which crossed the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint on Monday, 20 July, was Saudi in origin but Chinese in crew and destination, and passed without any interdiction. Michelle Bockmann, a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward, said two such vessels, loaded before the blockade was announced, used the very corridor that Western and Saudi linked operators had been warned to avoid.

Windward's conclusion is that the blockade is enforced by ship affiliation rather than by cargo, meaning that for now it shapes who moves Saudi crude, not whether it moves at all. The Houthis have previously relied on China for supplies including drone components, and Bockmann said Chinese vessels were effectively given a free pass during earlier rounds of attacks.

The Houthis said on Thursday, 23 July, that they had struck two Saudi oil tankers, and a Saudi news agency later confirmed that one of the two was set ablaze. Pressure on the Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb chokepoints at the same time has pushed fuel costs up, with the US national average petrol price reaching 4.09 dollars per gallon.