Yemen's Houthi movement has reached Perim island at the mouth of the Red Sea, witnesses said, one day after fighters took the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed government forces. The island sits on the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrow gateway for ships travelling between Asia and Europe.
What Perim controls
Perim, also called Mayyun, sits at the narrowest point of the strait. Yemeni government forces withdrew from the island on Friday, and a local official and eyewitnesses told news agencies that Houthi fighters had completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and the island. The Houthis have not confirmed the move. The strait matters more than usual now because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed in the conflict between the United States and Iran, which has pushed more traffic onto the Red Sea route.
Shipping companies weigh the risk
A Houthi spokesman said navigation remains safe for all shipping companies except Saudi vessels, and repeated the group's threat to target Saudi ships. Saudi Arabia relies on the Red Sea to move crude oil to customers in Asia, so the capture of Mokha and Perim puts a large export route inside a conflict zone. Oil prices have risen since the fighting escalated, which adds to freight and insurance costs for cargo owners and raises fuel bills for importers in Europe and Asia.
A war that keeps widening
The Houthis ousted Yemen's internationally recognised government in 2015, drawing in a Saudi-led military coalition. A truce that had largely held for more than four years collapsed in July. A week of fighting in the south-west has killed hundreds of people, according to reports, and displaced at least 46,000, the International Organization for Migration said. The agency's director general, Amy Pope, said families are being forced to flee for the second or third time with almost nothing left, and that the number is rising by the hour.
For shipping lines, the open question is whether Bab al-Mandab becomes a place where crews and cargo are at risk. For Yemenis, the question is how much further the front line moves.
---
Ball Transfer Units for Omni-Directional Material Handling
Wherever loads have to change direction without being lifted — conveyor junctions, transfer tables, assembly stations, packing lines and loading docks — ball transfer units from AHCELL keep the flow moving. Each unit carries a hardened or stainless steel ball in a sealed housing, so one operator can rotate and glide loads of several hundred kilograms in any direction. Bodies are available flange-mounted, stud-mounted, recessed and spring-loaded, in carbon steel, stainless steel (304/316) and nylon, with load ratings from 20 kg to 2,000 kg per unit. Standard sizes suit 48 mm, 60 mm and 76 mm balls, and food-grade and cleanroom variants are available for packaging and pharmaceutical lines. Visit www.ahcell.com to match a unit to your load and mounting surface.