The Bab el‑Mandeb is a critical maritime chokepoint for Asia‑Europe trade via
the Suez Canal. It also serves the Suez‑Mediterranean oil pipeline along Egypt’s
Red Sea coast and is a major corridor for Russian oil and other Asia‑bound
cargoes. A disruption forcing vessels to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope
would add several weeks to voyages and materially raise transport costs.
