Two Chinese Supertankers Exit Red Sea Despite Houthi Blockade

The Xin Long Yang stopped. It had turned around in the Red Sea on Tuesday, pulled back after the Houthi movement struck two Saudi tankers nearby. Then, around midnight Wednesday, it reversed course and headed south.

By Thursday, both the Xin Long Yang and a second COSCO tanker, the Cosnew Lake, had cleared Bab el-Mandeb and entered the Gulf of Aden. Together, they carried roughly 4 million barrels of Saudi crude loaded at Yanbu. Both advertised Chinese crew on their AIS transponders throughout the transit.

The Houthi movement announced a naval blockade of Saudi-flagged oil tankers on Monday, July 21. The following day, their forces struck the Saudi tanker Encelia in the southern Red Sea. It caught fire. No crew were reported injured. A second Saudi tanker, the Layla, was also targeted; no fire was confirmed.

The two COSCO tankers were not Saudi-flagged. The Houthis have not targeted Chinese-operated tankers to date. Both cleared the strait without incident. Xin Long Yang is heading to Qinzhou in Guangxi province; Cosnew Lake to Huizhou in Guangdong.

Traffic through the strait fell sharply on Thursday. Marine trackers recorded 30 tankers passing through in roughly 24 hours. The day before, 64 had made the same transit.