Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi movement has in recent weeks been attacking vessels in the Red Sea – a crucial route allowing East-West trade, and especially oil, to use the Suez Canal to avoid the extra time and expense of circumnavigating Africa.

The Liberian-flagged MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday with a drone in the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to the Houthis.

No injuries were reported, but the vessel suffered some fire damage and was taken out of service, MSC said. Another Liberian-flagged vessel, the Al Jasrah, was hit by a missile, which also started a fire, the U.S. military said.

The Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on shipping and fired drones and missiles towards Israel – on Saturday hitting the Red Sea resort city of Eilat – in support of the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamist Hamas group fighting Israel in Gaza.

The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, have pledged to continue their attacks until Israel stops its offensive, but said on Friday they were targeting only ships heading to Israeli ports.

However, both the Palatium III and another MSC ship that was threatened, the Alanya, listed Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as their destination, based on data from the ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.

Bab al-Mandab is one of the world’s most important routes for global seaborne commodity shipments, particularly crude oil and fuel from the Gulf bound westward for the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal or the nearby SUMED pipeline, as well as commodities heading eastward for Asia, including Russian oil.

Britain said on Saturday that one of its warships had shot down a suspected attack drone targeting merchant shipping in the area.

In response to the increase in attacks, Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Friday paused all its container shipments through Bab al-Mandab until further notice, and the German container line Hapag Lloyd said it might do the same, hours after reporting that one of its ships, the Al Jasrah, had been attacked near Yemen.

MSC said it would reroute some services around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa’s southern tip, adding days to the sailing times of vessels booked to transit the Suez Canal.

BW LNG AS, operators of Singapore-flagged liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier BW Lesmes, reported the vessel ran aground transiting southbound through the Suez Canal at approximately 21:35 (1835 GMT) on Tuesday, BW Group said in a statement.

Following the grounding, another vessel collided with the BW Lesmes at low speed, but did not affect the vessel’s operational capabilities, said BW Group.

“Initial observations from the crew onboard have reported the vessel remains structurally sound,” it said.

BW Lesmes was successfully re-floated at 03:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

BW Group also said all crew members were safe and there were no reports of pollution. While the vessel is now under pilotage and proceeding to Suez anchorage for further inspections.

Ship tracking company MarineTraffic said the Cayman Islands-flagged oil products tanker Burri was identified as the other vessel involved in the collision.

TMS Tankers, which manages the Burri, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As of 5 a.m. local time (0200 GMT), the Burri was moored and pointing south about 12 km (7.5 miles) from the southern end of the canal, according to ship tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon.

A person who answered the phone at the Suez Canal Authority’s operations room when contacted by Reuters said he could not provide any information on the tankers. He did not give his name when asked. The Authority has not yet issued an official statement.

The Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

About 12% of the world’s trade moves through the canal. During strong winds in 2021, a huge container ship, the Ever Given, became jammed across it, halting traffic in both directions for six days and disrupting global trade.

In a statement, the Suez Canal Authority, which oversees the operation of the key water passage, said its teams were working to recover the tugboat after it launched an operation to save the seven-person crew. It did not mention whether the movement of other ships transporting through the canal had been affected.

The canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, sees periodic groundings of mega-large transport ships that go through it, many of them traveling between China and Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Tugboats help guide ships passing through.

The tanker involved in Saturday’s collision, the authority said, was the Hong Kong-flagged tanker Chinagas Legend, which it said was now waiting in Port Said.

In March 2021 a skyscraper-sized container ship, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, ran aground in a single-lane stretch of the canal, blocking the waterway. A massive salvage effort by a flotilla of tugboats, helped by the tides, freed it six days later, ending the crisis and allowing hundreds of waiting ships to pass through the canal.

Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a vital link for oil, natural gas and cargo of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners. In 2015, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels.

The Malta-flagged Seavigour suffered a mechanical malfunction at the 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) mark of the canal, said George Safwat, a spokesperson for Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority.

The canal authority deployed three tugboats to tow away the tanker and allow other vessels to transit the waterway, he said.

The tanker was part of the north convoy, which transits the canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, he said.

Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said the tanker broke down in a single-lane part of the waterway, disrupting the transit of eight other vessels that were behind it in the convoy.

In a phone interview with a local television station, he said that tugboats were towing the tanker to a double-lane part at the 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) mark of the canal.

The Seavigour was built in 2016, and is 274 meters (899 feet) long and 48.63 meters (159 feet) wide, according to MarineTraffic, a vessel tracking service provider

Sunday’s incident was the latest case of a vessel reported stuck in the vital waterway. A flurry of ships ran aground or broke down in the Suez Canal over the past few years.

On May 25, a Hong Kong-flagged ship briefly blocked the canal. On March 5, a Liberia-flagged ship ran aground in the two-lane part of the waterway. Both vessels were refloated hours later.

In March 2021, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, a colossal container ship, crashed into a bank on a single-lane stretch of the canal, blocking the waterway for six days and disrupting global trade.

The canal, which opened in 1869, provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. About 10% of world trade flows through the canal, a major source of foreign currency for the Egyptian government.

According to the Suez Canal Authority, last year, 23,851 vessels passed through the waterway, compared to 20,649 vessels in 2021. The revenue from the canal in 2022 reached $8 billion, the highest in its history.

Cairo (AP) — A Hong Kong-flagged ship briefly ran aground Thursday in Egypt’s vital Suez Canal, though authorities said they were able to refloat it after it momentarily disrupted the waterway.

The Xin Hai Tong 23 ran aground at the southern mouth of the Suez Canal, the body that oversees the waterway said in a statement. The ship was being towed to another area by three tug boats after an “emergency malfunction,” it said, that caused it to stop sailing.

The Suez Canal Authority said that traffic flow had returned to normal in the canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Leth Agencies, which oversees traffic in the canal, had said that four other vessels were stopped in line behind it after it ran aground.

The ship is a bulk carrier, which typically carries cargo. The ship measures some 190 meters (625 feet) by 32 meters (105 feet).

The Ever Given, a colossal container ship that crashed into a bank on a single-lane stretch of the canal in March 2021, blocking the waterway, was bigger. A massive salvage effort by a flotilla of tugboats, helped by the tides, freed the skyscraper-sized vessel six days later, ending the crisis and allowing hundreds of waiting ships to pass through the canal.