Six unladen Saudi crude oil supertankers altered course away from the troubled Bab el-Mandeb Strait toward the open Indian Ocean.
Ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic reported the vessels abandoned the Red Sea path to journey around the Cape of Good Hope.
This dramatic detour around Africa adds at least two weeks of hazardous maritime travel for the massive ballast carriers.
The sudden route changes occurred following heightened security threats from Yemen’s Houthi militants targeting Red Sea commercial shipping lines.
These naval disruptions stem from widening Middle East conflicts, including ongoing regional tensions surrounding Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Among the rerouted tankers, the Ghinah and Laynah officially altered their Automatic Identification System destinations to Durban, South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Burqan, Dilam, Hazm, and Salam also adjusted their southern trajectories toward secondary African coastal safe harbors.
By bypassing the critical Bab el-Mandeb bottleneck, global energy logistics face growing delays across major international trade corridors.