The US and Iran have traded strikes for ten days straight, with Iranian actions also targeting neighbor states and area vessels, and missile attacks reaching as far as US positions in Jordan. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has again slowed to a trickle, and the conflict has now extended to the Bab el Mandeb strait as well. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have had a ceasefire in place since 2022, but tensions increased recently as Saudi Arabia fired at Sanaa airport, preventing a flight from Iran to land. In response, the Houthis, who have not attacked passing vessels since late last year, announced that the Red Sea channel is now closed to all Saudi-linked vessels and ships calling at Saudi ports. The Saudis have diverted a significant share of pre-war oil flows away from the Strait of Hormuz via pipelines reaching Jeddah Port in the Red Sea, where volumes continue on by tankers passing Yemen on their way east. Container carriers are also diverting some Gulf traffic through Jeddah, though most major carriers get there via the Mediterranean and northern Red Sea, still avoiding the Houthi choke point. So the new closure would likely be a bigger blow to energy flows than to the container market, but could see carriers like CMA CGM and Maersk backtrack on recent steps back toward Red Sea transits, as well as disrupt regional carriers who were still passing through the Bab el Mandeb for Saudi calls. Oil prices are facing upward pressure from the recent deteriorations. Crude prices are now up 20% since an early July low and are back to mid-June levels. Bunker prices are up 12%, erasing more than a month of decline too, with jet fuel rates up 25% and back to mid-May levels – 50% higher than the pre-war baseline. But even with fuel prices rising, container rates are easing – slightly – for the first time since April, as carriers add capacity to some lanes and an early unwind from an early peak season begins. Carriers had announced significant GRIs and PSSs for July 15th,