MSC containership struck by Houthi missile

Source: UKMTO

An MSC containership has become the latest vessel to be damaged in a Houthi attack.

U.K. Maritime Trade Operations today issued a report at 1500 UTC on an incident 91 nautical miles southeast of Aden in which the master of a vessel reported two explosions. The first was a distance off the vessel’s port quarter, the second caused damage to the vessel, with the master reporting fire and smoke on board that the vessel was tackling. No injuries were reported. In updates, UKMTO said first that the fire had been extinguished and then that the ship had cleared the area and was proceeding to its next port of call.

That vessel was identified by a Houthi spokesman as the MSC containership MSC Sky II.

While the Houthi spokesman identified the MSC Sky II as “Israeli,” the Liberian-flagged ship is operated by Switzerland based Mediterranean Shipping Company. It is the second MSC vessel to be targeted by the Houthis following an earlier, unsuccessful, attack on the MSC Clara.

While vessel charterers and operators continuing to transit through the Red Sea are now taking a calculated risk with their eyes wide open, one of the biggest economic victims of the Houthi’s activities is the Suez Canal Authority, as can be seen by the latest data from IMF Portwatch.

The Houthi activities are also, of course, no good news for the environment. CENTCOM reported on March 2 that, at approximately 2:15 a.m. (Sanaa time), Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, sank in the Red Sea after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on Feb. 18.

The ship had been slowly taking on water since the unprovoked attack.

“The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” said CENTCOM. “As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway.”