On New Year’s Eve, weeks of rising tension in the Red Sea reached a boiling point. 

Houthi militants tried to board the Maersk Hangzhou just one day after hitting the vessel with a missile. The ship’s crew sent out a distress signal that was picked up by the USS Eisenhower and the USS Gravely, which sent helicopters to support the on-ship-security team.

Three Houthi ships were destroyed and ten assailants were killed, according to the Houthi military’s own report. The crew of the Hangzhou is safe and there were no indications of fire resulting from the missile strike.

That skirmish marked a new level of escalation in a string of missile strikes and drone attacks that have plagued commercial vessels traveling through the Red Sea since November.

In this week’s episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner provides a supply chain point of view on a story that has been featured above the fold for weeks:  

• An overview of the trouble that has been raging in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting commercial vessels in particular
• Why being able to travel safely through this body of water is particularly critical to the efficiency of global supply chains
• And what the crews on these ships are dealing with as they attempt to do their jobs, moving goods to their intended destination

Links:

• Watch: Houthi Rebels Seize Israeli-Linked Cargo Ship in Red Sea (WSJ)
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement