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Shipping companies are increasingly steering vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, with traffic hitting record levels in mid-April amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and heightened risks in the Red Sea, as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis maintain their threat to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Shipping companies are increasingly steering vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, with traffic hitting record levels in mid-April.
This surge follows the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and heightened risks in the Red Sea, as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis maintain their threat to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Tanker volumes along the longer African route climbed to 24 million deadweight tons in the week of April 13, marking the highest level on record, according to Veson Nautical data compiled by Financial Times.
Container traffic across key African ports rose 21% after the Feb. 28 escalation, peaking in the week of April 6 at 71% above pre-conflict levels, according to the report citing Project44 data.
Shipping lines briefly returned to the Suez Canal route after an October Gaza ceasefire, but renewed tensions from U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s regional retaliation pushed operators back toward Africa over Houthi attack risks, the report suggested.
The Iran-backed group had previously targeted ships in the Red Sea in 2025, prompting the initial diversion.
While no major new attacks have been reported in the latest escalation, the threat alone has been enough to alter routing decisions.
The Strait of Hormuz, which handles roughly one-fifth of global oil and LNG flows, has faced congestion since the conflict intensified in late February.
Further south, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—through which about 12% of global trade passes, remains a key risk point.
Houthi forces have repeatedly warned they could shut it down, though no large-scale action has materialized so far.
Most recently, Houthi official Hussein al-Ezzi raised the possibility of disrupting one of the world’s most critical maritime routes in a post on X. "If Sanaa makes the decision to close the Bab al-Mandeb, no force would be able to reopen it," he said.
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