{"id":39770,"date":"2024-02-23T01:14:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T19:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=39770"},"modified":"2025-04-24T19:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T13:48:16","slug":"mundra-port-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mundra-port-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New trade route to Israel involving Mundra port"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is Red Sea?<\/li>\n<li>Who are Houthis?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary: New trade route to Israel involving Mundra port<\/li>\n<li>What is happening in the Red Sea?<\/li>\n<li>What is the new route?<\/li>\n<li>What are the benefits, costs of the new route?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>As Houthis continue to attack Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea, Israeli transport minister recently announced an alternative route for trade, involving the Mundra port in Gujarat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Red Sea?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About\n<ul>\n<li>Red Sea is narrow strip of water extending southeastward from Suez, Egypt, to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.<\/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 <u>coasts of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea from those of Saudi Arabia and Yemen<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Gulf of Aqaba, a north eastern extension of the sea, reaches southern Israel and southwestern Jordan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Significance\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>Significance for India\n<ul>\n<li>Freight rates for Indian shipments headed to Europe and Africa could surge as much as 25-30 per 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 <u>30 per cent of global container traffic<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Who are Houthis?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About\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>Involvement in civil war of Yemen\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 <u>Houthis, who are backed by Iran<\/u>.<\/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>Houthis attacking Red Sea ships\n<ul>\n<li>The Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen have been attacking ships in the Red Sea in <u>response to Israel&#8217;s military campaign in Gaza<\/u>.<\/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>News Summary: New trade route to Israel involving Mundra port<\/h2>\n<h2>What is happening in the Red Sea?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels have been attacking ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, in solidarity with Gaza.<\/li>\n<li>This has disrupted global trade, some 12% of which passes through the Red Sea.<\/li>\n<li>To avoid the danger zone, ships are going all the way to the south of Africa and crossing the Cape of Good Hope, increasing both costs and the time taken.<\/li>\n<li>In this scenario, Israel has been looking for ways to carry out trade bypassing the Red Sea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the new route?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Under this, goods would move:\n<ul>\n<li>from Mundra to ports in the UAE, such as Dubai\u2019s Jebel Ali Port, by sea, and<\/li>\n<li>then via land through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel.\n<ul>\n<li>Land corridor became feasible due to signing of the Abraham Accords (aimed at normalising ties between Israel and some Arab states) in 2020.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A major part of the land transport will be carried out on trucks.<\/li>\n<li>A similar route might be used in the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) too.\n<ul>\n<li>The ambitious project aims to link India to Europe via the Middle East, but its final shape is yet to be decided and the Gaza war has thrown a spanner in its progress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What are the benefits, costs of the new route?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The land route will significantly cut travel time and costs for Israel, and will generate revenue for Saudi Arabia and Jordan in terms of transport fee and duties.<\/li>\n<li>However, trucks can carry far fewer goods than a ship can, and to that extent, trade will be limited.<\/li>\n<li>Also, the route depends on Israel maintaining friendly ties with the two countries, in a rapidly fluctuating situation in the Middle East.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is Cape of Good Hope?<\/h3>\n<p>The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. It&#8217;s located at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula, which is also home to Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is strait?<\/h3>\n<p>A strait is a landform that connects two bodies of water or two seas. Straits are often important transportation routes because they allow ships to pass from one body of water to another.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/everyday-explainers\/red-sea-new-trade-route-to-israel-via-mundra-9173917\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>To bypass Red Sea, new trade route to Israel involving Mundra port: How this will work<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><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><u> | <\/u><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 Strait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39770","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\/39770","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=39770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}