Our childlike TV shows may no longer be such a present-day fantasy. Pirates are now once again appearing, and not for the better. Since November, Houthi rebels have been attacking cargo ships with missiles, drones, and even speedboats. These “pirates” are hijacking local commercial ships and stealing everything on site. Not only causing worry to the people aboard but also having major effects on consumers.
Since Houthi rebels started their spree of theft, they have hijacked 25 commercial ships. Two of which were from America. Though this does not seem like a major issue as of now, there can be many terrible effects in the not-so-distant future.
Two of the Associated Press writers, Paul Wiseman and Mae Anderson, have gone further into research about what this truly means. From gaining information from Ryan Peterson, the CEO of Flexport’s supply chain and management, they now have found what these shipping issues mean. Wiseman and Anderson say, “Houthi rebels in Yemen, seeking to stop Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza, are attacking cargo ships plying the waters connecting Asia with Europe and the United States, forcing traffic away from the Suez Canal and around the tip of Africa. The disruption is causing delays and driving up costs — at a time when the world has yet to vanquish a resurgence of inflation.”
Taking the roundabout trip through the sea’s surrounding Africa will take much more time to transport the cargo. This causes longer time of arrival on goods and higher shipping prices. Meaning more angry customers, and less supply.
Maggie Lall, a sophomore at Santa Rosa Academy elaborates on this. “There’s not much that the consumers can do other than wait. They will have complaints but other than that, there’s nothing else to do. I do think that the businesses will for sure undergo loss of profit. If they can’t get their products out on the shelves or shipped out, people will no longer buy from them” Lall said.
Yemen is located in between both the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. This path is crucial for ships to pass through, or else many more months of travel.While many people will be upset, others may be understanding. It just depends if people are informed and understand what is going on.
Abigail Carrico, a sophomore at SRA believes that people who watch the news will realize and understand how the shipping will now take longer. “I think some consumers will be impatient and some will be understanding. I believe most will be understanding because they can read the news and learn why their package is delayed.”
Whether it is a positive or negative effect, people will blame this for one particular cause.
Isabelle Marie Lumamba, a freshman at Santa Rosa Academy has reason as to what people think that the U.S. should do about this. “I think that consumers will feel disappointed. I definitely would. People may even think that the root of this problem is the fact that the U.S. committed to helping Israel, making it why the Houthi rebels think they need to attack the U.S. since technically that’s their ‘enemy’. I don’t have this stance though, I’m not as knowledgeable about this topic (if I) have any, but these are just my assumptions” Lumamba said.
Yemen claims that they have been doing this to any ships associated with Israel. Trying to strike fear into the ship’s crew and anger into people, however, this might not be the way that Yemen would want to go with America.
Lall believes that this tension will only cause trouble down the road. Lall says, “I think that what they are doing is completely wrong. They are using it as a way to intimidate America which is just going to cause bigger problems instead of putting the fire out. America has been allies with Israel for so long it’s not going to change and I think that this is just going to cause more problems on top of everything already going on.”
While as of now only two ships have been taken by the Houthi rebels, more problems may come as a result.
Carrico finds that only conflict will arise from these acts. “I believe that the U.S. will fight Yemen a little to scare them off. They may hurt some parts of Yemen or fight the Houthi rebels back. I do not believe this will actually make the U.S. stop helping Israel because the U.S. has a very strong army. I don’t believe they are scared of one country trying to hurt them.”
America and many other allies have now come together to help end this commotion. By coming to an agreement to stop this blocking of shipping, everyone has a chance to stop this.
President Joe Biden has announced this issue. According to Whitehouse.gov, He said, “Last month, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian—a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. We also joined more than 40 nations in condemning Houthi threats. Last week, together with 13 allies and partners, we issued an unequivocal warning that Houthi rebels would bear the consequences if their attacks did not cease. And yesterday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding the Houthis end attacks on merchant and commercial vessels.”
Some may ask why this is such a big deal. The answer to that is because of two main reasons. The first reason is to show dominance to all countries that use this passage for shipping. The second reason is because of everything that is being lost.
Costamare.com says that the largest cargo ship contains around 24,000 TEUs. Each TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent units. Each one is carried by a single semi-truck. Each ship carries around 1.5 trillion dollars. Though only two ships have been attacked, that means they have lost about three trillion dollars
From hearing of the extreme loss of products, nations have come together to stop this matter. While no one enjoys conflict, there is certainly some to arise. With this, will also come the end of the fight for waterways.
Biden finds that he, along with America’s allies, will end this feud. “Today’s defensive action follows this extensive diplomatic campaign and Houthi rebels’ escalating attacks against commercial vessels. These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes. I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary” said Biden.
