Houthi Attacks in Red Sea Threaten Internet Infrastructure
The Wall Street Journal this week cited industry experts as saying that the cost to insure cable ships near Yemen has risen to as much as $150,000 per day.
Alternative Cable Routes Must Be Explored
Telecom industry experts are, meanwhile, calling for governments to do more to force the industry to find alternative routes for internet cables to lower the disruption caused by the severing of undersea lines.
Land routes across Saudi Arabia, for example, could help avoid the Red Sea and other high-risk waters in the Middle East altogether. But land cabling is often a lot more costly, they warn.
The Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have said they are targeting Israeli, US and UK-linked ships in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
The Iran-backed group has targeted dozens of vessels since late last year, and the Rubymar was the first ship to sink as a result of their assault.
In the Houthi’s first fatal attack, two Filipino and one Vietnamese crew members were killed when their vessel, the Barbados-flagged, Greek-operated True Confidence, was struck last Wednesday by a missile, setting the ship ablaze.
The Houthis have denied targeting undersea telecom cables, but their near-daily attacks have caused many global shipping firms to avoid the Red Sea and the nearby Suez Canal to the Mediterranean.
Instead, many vessels are plying a longer, more dangerous route around southern Africa to Europe, which takes an extra seven to 10 days.
Insurance premiums for shipping have risen as a result of the heightened risks, while the rerouting has driven up fuel, staff and other costs, as more vessels are needed for the longer route.
Shipping rates also rose sharply late last year, but have been coming down since the end of January.
Fatalities Could Spur More Ships to Use Africa Route
Despite the risks, some shipping companies continue to use the Red Sea. But the fatalities on the True Confidence and the severing of the undersea cables could see more firms choose the safer route around Africa.
“Every company has its own risk assessment — which explains why some companies still transit [the Red Sea]. But a red line may now have been crossed with the casualties [on True Confidence],” said Sand.
The latest attacks could even spark tougher measures by Western forces who have mounted naval missions to the nearby waterways to protect the vital shipping trade from Asia to Europe.
The US and UK sent warships to the region in November when the attacks first began; a separate European Union naval mission began to the Middle East last month, backed by several EU states, including Germany.
“I don’t see a large-scale military response,” Sand told DW. “This is a tug of war, so I expect the naval forces in the area to continue to do a thorough investigation of targets that need to be dealt with to secure the safe passage of commercial ships.”
Nik Martin is editor and content producer at DW. This article was edited by Ashutosh Pandey, and it is published courtesy of Deutsche Welle (DW).
