Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have changed course in the Gulf of Aden in recent days and are heading to southern Africa amid threats by Yemen’s Houthi movement to target Saudi shipping, ship-tracking data showed on Monday.
The tankers, which were empty of cargo after returning from destinations in Asia, were sailing in formation towards southern Africa, rather than opting to transit the southern Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint, according to AIS ship-tracking on LSEG and MarineTraffic.
Saudi officials did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul Editing by David Goodman )