WIREDGOV

Houthi attacks on shipping are read as an instrument of geopolitical pressure. That reading is incomplete. The attacks have a second, less visible effect – and it is economic.

Since late 2023, the attacks in the Bab al-Mandeb strait have done something easy to misread. They did not stop trade. They made it more expensive. That distinction matters more than it appears.

According to the International Monetary Fund, more than 60% of container shipping was rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope. The system did not collapse. It repriced. A strategic chokepoint – a narrow passage on which global trade depends – is no longer just a location. The strait has become a machine for extracting risk premiums from everyone who depends on it.

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