{"id":39325,"date":"2024-01-28T03:27:49","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T21:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=39325"},"modified":"2025-04-24T08:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T02:59:13","slug":"crisis-in-red-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/crisis-in-red-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Crisis in Red Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is Red Sea?<\/li>\n<li>Who are Houthis?<\/li>\n<li>Trouble in Red Sea and Impact on India<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In the latest in a series of attacks on commercial vessels in the western Arabian Sea by the Houthi rebels, a <strong>Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Marlin Luanda<\/strong> came under a missile attack.\n<ul>\n<li>The vessel had 22 Indian and one Bangladeshi crew members on board.<\/li>\n<li>While the ship was learnt to have caught fire and reported damage, no casualty or injury was reported at the time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It prompted a quick response from the Indian Navy\u2019s guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam, which was deployed in the Gulf of Aden.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Red Sea?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Red Sea is narrow strip of water extending southeastward from Suez, Egypt, to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.\n<ul>\n<li>Bab-el-Mandeb Strait connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Basically, it is a narrow inland sea between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.\n<ul>\n<li>The Red Sea separates the coasts of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea from those of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Gulf of Aqaba, a northeastern extension of the sea, reaches southern Israel and southwestern Jordan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Red Sea contains some of the world\u2019s hottest and saltiest seawater.<\/li>\n<li>It is one of the most heavily travelled waterways in the world, carrying maritime traffic between Europe and Asia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance for India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Freight rates for Indian shipments headed to Europe and Africa could surge as much as 25-30\u00a0per cent if there is disruption along this route.\n<ul>\n<li>For India, the Red Sea trade route is the shortest trade route for ships moving from Asia to Europe.<\/li>\n<li>India is heavily reliant on the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait for its crude oil, LNG imports and trade with parts of West Asia, Africa, and Europe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This route is vital for 30 per cent of global container traffic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Who are Houthis?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Houthis are a Shiite Muslim sect and political and military organization that emerged in Yemen (which is predominantly Sunni) in the 1990s.\n<ul>\n<li>Named after the Houthi tribe, they are Zaydi Shias.<\/li>\n<li>Zayadism is a sub-sect of Shia Islam and it believes in following the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s family, as the political leader of the state.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Houthis are also known as Ansar Allah, which translates to &#8220;Supporters of God&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Involvement in civil war of Yemen<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Houthis are one side of the Yemeni civil war that has raged for nearly a decade.<\/li>\n<li>Yemen\u2019s civil war began in 2014 when Houthi insurgents took control of Yemen\u2019s capital and largest city, Sana\u2019a.<\/li>\n<li>By early 2015, Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf states and with U.S. support, was launching airstrikes against the Houthis, who are backed by Iran.<\/li>\n<li>A ceasefire was finally signed in 2022. It lapsed after six months but the warring parties haven\u2019t returned to full-scale conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Houthis attacking Red Sea ships<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen have been attacking ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel&#8217;s military campaign in Gaza.<\/li>\n<li>The Houthis support Hamas, and vowed on November 19 to target vessels they believe are heading to and from Israel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Trouble in Red Sea and Impact on India<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Trouble in Red Sea<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea since November 2023 by the Houthi militia of Yemen have increased.<\/li>\n<li>It has turned the quickest marine route linking Asia with Europe through the Suez Canal unsafe.<\/li>\n<li>It has forced freighters to take a longer transit around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa\u2019s southern tip, making shipments both dearer and longer to deliver.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Status<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Almost 90% of western hemisphere cargo, both inbound or shipped from India, that used to go through the Red Sea is now getting re-routed through the Cape of Good Hope.<\/li>\n<li>The remaining 10% of Indian import or export cargo is either not moving or using a transit facility.<\/li>\n<li>Container Corporation of India said that about 25% of its containers are being held back by Indian exporters as everybody is hoping the situation will normalise shortly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Impact on India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Besides the extra time taken on account of the longer route, the developments could make <strong>imports costlier and call for better inventory management<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The Red Sea crisis could come in the way of any plans to reduce pump prices of petrol and diesel.<\/li>\n<li>Freight rates for impacted routes have increased.\n<ul>\n<li>War risk premiums in the Red Sea have been partially contributing to the freight-rate increases for the relevant routes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Commodities are the worst affected whether it be chemicals, plastic, petrochemicals, because margins are not there to absorb the hike in freight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is Cape of Good Hope?<\/h3>\n<p>The Cape of Good Hope is a place near the far south end of Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. It is a well known area for ships that pass in the sea between southern Africa and Antarctica.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is Bab-el-Mandeb?<\/h3>\n<p>The Bab-el-Mandeb is a 20-mile wide strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It&#8217;s located between Yemen and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/india\/story\/british-oil-tanker-marlin-luanda-ins-visakhapatman-fire-under-control-gulf-of-aden-2494416-2024-01-28\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Navy helps douse fire on UK oil tanker attacked by Houthis in Gulf of Aden<\/u><\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/how-has-red-sea-trouble-impacted-india-explained\/article67713887.ece#:~:text=For%20instance%2C%20the%20Red%20Sea,half%20of%20the%20current%20fiscal.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/merchant-ship-22-indians-hit-by-houthi-missile-gulf-of-aden-navy-9130379\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Express<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Red Sea is narrow strip of water extending southeastward from Suez, Egypt, to the Bab el-Mandeb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}