Houthis Threaten Shipping, But Blackmail Earns Them Little
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Speculation continues regarding reports that the Houthis are successfully blackmailing ship owners to pay fees for guaranteeing safe passage through the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
Quoting the annual and normally authoratitive UN Panel of Experts on Yemen letter to the Security Council – but in draft before it was published –\u00a0analysts speculated that \u2018the Houthis\u2019 earnings from these illegal safe-transit fees to be about $180 million per month\u2019, amounting to more than $2 billion a year in income.\u00a0But when the report was finally published, its authors noted they had \u2018not been able to independently verify this information\u2019.<\/p>\n
The UN Panel\u2019s primary source appears to have been an anonymous Yemeni website for which there are no contact details, but which tends to back official Yemeni government positions and is hostile to both the Houthis and the Emirati-backed Southern Transition Council.\u00a0The website quotes \u2018western diplomats\u2019 as the source for its story, but provides no further identification or corroborative information with which to establish its credibility.<\/p>\n
Analysis carried out by Deutsche Welle\u2019s Cathrin Schaer, multiplying the number of non-Chinese and Russian ships risking transit of the Red Sea against the potential extra fuel costs of taking the Cape route instead, concludes that even if some ships might make payments to secure safe passage, the potential revenues would be a very small fraction of the $180 million per month claimed.\u00a0It is possible for shipping companies to communicate with the Houthis via their so-called \u2018Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center\u2019, set up in February 2024 to coordinate attacks on shipping.\u00a0But any shipping company thinking of paying such fees using the halawa informal banking system risks being detected and then being subject to heavy US Treasury and EU penalties for breaching sanctions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emails sent by the Houthi\u2019s \u2018Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center\u2019, \u00a0using the email address operations@hocc.gov.ye, threaten shipping companies and\u00a0order them to cut Israeli links –\u00a0but do not offer the option of avoiding attack by paying fees.\u00a0The Houthis have also attempted to use the London-based UN International Maritime Organization to disseminate threats to shipowners.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the Houthis are specialists at this style of fund-raising.\u00a0The Houthis routinely charge telecommunications, LPG distribution, haulage and other companies “protection money” as a levy on commercial activity in areas they control, as a means of raising revenue for arms purchases.\u00a0 The Houthis also send out mass text messages demanding money for \u201cair force\u201d and \u201ccoastal defence forces\u201d purposes, and expect a range of private and public institutions such as schools to meet funding targets.<\/p>\n
The UN Panel\u2019s report collates information from many official and open sources on the Houthi\u2019s anti-shipping operations.\u00a0Between\u00a0November 15,\u00a02023 and July 31, 2024, 134 Houthi attacks on shipping were recorded.\u00a0The report also lists US Central Command battle damage assessment figures, indicating the US and UK strikes on the Houthis since counter-attacks began have destroyed 15 ballistic missiles, 172 anti-ship missiles, 382 one-way attack drones and 66 unmanned surface attack boats, as well as 7 anti-shipping command posts and 10 ammunition storage areas.\u00a066 anti-ship missiles, 35 one-way attack drones and 5 unmanned surface attack boats have been brought down by the US Navy during attacks on shipping.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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