Lords bliss, local maritime news eclipsed by renewed Middle East cauldron

SEVERAL US aircraft carriers are reported to be in Middle Eastern waters, ostensibly as a “US presence” but, should the conflict between Israel and Iran escalate, they could be drawn into action. Aircraft have flown sorties against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but, while inflicting damage on installations, those raids have not stopped the attacks on shipping off the Yemeni coast.

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(Depicted here off Cape Town in 2007 is USS Theodore Roosevelt which is refitting in her picturesque homeport of Bremerton in the state of Washington.)

wake of the Israeli attack on Iran and the latter's retaliatory attacks.

Bunker prices will increase com-mensurately with oil price rises, hiking shipping costs that, for Asia-Europe shipments, are already high in view of vessels using the longer Cape route, rather than the dangerous Red Sea-Suez Canal passage. With the Irani-an-backed Houthis likely to react to the Israel-Iran conflict by continuing attacks on shipping, the Cape route will remain busy for the foreseeable future.