Houthis fire missiles at another ship managed by Oceonix Services

Source: UKMTO

Middle East news reports today quoted the Houthis as saying they had targeted the “American merchant ship Koi … with several appropriate naval missiles.” The Equasis data base shows that the Liberian-flagged 8,568 TEU containership Koi is managed by London-based Oceonix Services which, Bloomberg Law says, is a U.K. based unit of a JP Morgan Chase & Co fund.

According to reports the Koi is under charter to CMA CGM.

Oceonix Services is also the manager of the Marlin Luanda, the Trafigura-chartered tanker that survived a fire caused by a Houthi missile strike on January 26.

The attack on the Koi did not succeed.

UK Maritime Trade Operations said today that, at 10.00 UTC it had received a report of an incident 57 nautical miles west of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, in which a master reported an explosion a distance off a vessel’s starboard side. UKMTO reported “the vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to the next port of call. Subsequently, U.S. Central Command reported that, at approximately 12:45 p.m. (Sanaa time), two anti-ship ballistic missile were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen likely towards the M/V Koi in the Red Sea. The missiles impacted in the water without hitting the ship.

The incident involving the Oceonix Services vessel was one of a series of Houthi attacks attempted today, despite earlier strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

At at approximately 5:00 a.m. (Sanaa time), CENTCOM forces engaged and shot down one UAV over the Gulf of Aden. There were no injuries or damage reported. Then, at 10.30 a.m., CENTCOM says it conducted strikes and destroyed an Iranian-backed Houthi explosive-laden uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) in the Red Sea. U.S. forces identified the USV heading toward the international shipping lane and determined it presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. Forces subsequently struck and destroyed the USV in self-defense resulting in significant secondary explosions.

Those incidents were followed by the attack on the Koi and came despite continuing attempts to degrade Houthi capabilities that included strikes conducted by CENTCOM this morning, before any of today’s attacks on merchant shipping, at approximately 1:30 a.m., (Sanaa time). CENTCOM says the strikes were on an Iranian-backed Houthi UAV ground control station and 10 Houthi one-way UAVs.

“U.S. forces identified the UAV ground control station and one-way attack UAVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region,” said CENTCOM. “U.S. Forces subsequently struck and destroyed the UAV ground control station and 10 one-way attack UAVs in self-defense. This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels.”