IMO chief calls renewed Red Sea attacks on shipping indefensible

Spread the Word

The head of the International Maritime Organization has condemned the resumption of attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea, calling them indefensible and warning that they place seafarers, the marine environment and global supply chains at risk. Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez issued the statement after vessels were struck on 23 July 2026, the first such incidents since the ceasefire that followed the Gaza war brought a pause to the campaign launched from Houthi-held territory.

Dominguez framed the issue around the people aboard the ships rather than around freight rates. Seafarers, he said, are civilians doing essential work that sustains economies and communities, and they should never be targeted or placed in harm’s way during conflict or instability. He renewed a call for the immediate and unconditional release of all crew members still held after attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, describing their protection as an obligation under international law and a shared responsibility.

That last point covers two distinct problems that are often blurred together. One is the campaign of missile, drone and small boat attacks attributed to the Houthi movement, which the group has consistently linked to the war in Gaza and, more recently, to the confrontation with Iran. The other is conventional piracy, which has returned to the waters off the Horn of Africa after years of relative quiet. Industry monitors recorded more than twenty attempted or actual incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in the three months to early July, with reports of heavier weapons and greater violence against crews.

The commercial effect of the earlier campaign has proved durable. Average daily transits through the Bab al-Mandab strait stood at around 28 in the week to 6 July, against more than 70 before the Gaza war began, according to IMF port tracking data. Traffic through the Suez Canal remains far below its pre-crisis level, and Egypt has absorbed a substantial loss of transit revenue as a result. Many carriers continue to route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, a diversion that adds roughly ten days and considerable fuel cost to a voyage between Asia and northern Europe, and war risk insurance premiums for the southern Red Sea remain elevated.

July also brought a broader threat. Houthi authorities announced a blockade on vessels calling at Saudi ports, extending the declared target list beyond ships with Israeli links. Shipping companies have treated such announcements cautiously, since the group has previously struck vessels with no evident connection to the parties it names, but the declaration was enough to unsettle owners who had begun cautiously returning to the route.

Environmental risk is a recurring theme in the organisation’s warnings, and there is precedent behind it. The cargo ship Rubymar sank in the Red Sea in 2024 with a large load of fertiliser aboard, and the tanker Sounion was set ablaze while carrying about 150,000 tonnes of crude before salvage crews prevented a spill. The Red Sea is a narrow, shallow, poorly flushed body of water containing coral reef systems that would take decades to recover from a major discharge. Salvage in a contested war zone is slow and expensive, and insurers and specialist firms are reluctant to send teams into waters where they may themselves be targeted.

Naval responses have not resolved the problem. The European Union mission Aspides has escorted merchant traffic and intercepted incoming weapons, and a separate coalition led by the United States has conducted strikes on launch sites, but interception is inherently defensive and mobile launchers are difficult to eliminate. Regional states have reassessed their own exposure. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which depend on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden traffic, have expanded port security and maritime surveillance arrangements.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned the Houthis against further escalation and pressed for restraint in the corridor. Diplomats acknowledge that the maritime file cannot be separated from the wider Yemeni conflict. The internationally recognised government in Aden, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, has been unable to project power against the coast the group controls, and the peace roadmap negotiated with Saudi and Omani involvement has been stalled since the shipping campaign began.

For shipowners the calculation is now familiar and unwelcome. Each week of quiet draws a few more vessels back through the strait, and each incident pushes them out again. Charterers are reluctant to commit to schedules that depend on a route which may close without notice, and the resulting uncertainty is priced into contracts across the industry. Ports in the eastern Mediterranean and northern Europe have adjusted to irregular arrival patterns that show no sign of settling.

The organisation has limited enforcement power of its own. It sets standards, coordinates member states and speaks for an industry that employs close to two million seafarers, but it cannot compel a non-state actor to stop firing. What Dominguez can do is keep the human cost visible, and insist that crews caught between belligerents are not treated as legitimate pressure points. Until the underlying conflict moves towards a settlement, the Red Sea is likely to remain a corridor that ships enter with caution and leave with relief.