By Weilun Soon
August 3, 2026 (Bloomberg) – The key Saudi export port of Yanbu on the Red Sea experienced one of its busiest days since shipping was disrupted by Houthi threats in the area, with more vessels sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint under the radar.
On Saturday, five very large crude carriers (VLCCs) docked at Yanbu's oil-loading terminals, making it a particularly active day, as these operations have been affected by a blockade imposed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels two weeks ago. These observations came from satellite images taken by the European Union’s Sentinel 2 satellite, which has limited flyovers of the region.
Yanbu has become vital for Saudi Arabia to maintain exports of large volumes of crude oil since the conflict with Iran disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The kingdom has been transporting millions of barrels daily to the Red Sea via pipelines to continue supplying global markets. A VLCC is capable of carrying around 2 million barrels.
In another development, the Greek-owned Suezmax tanker Lesvos and the Indian-flagged VLCC Desh Vaibhav navigated through the Bab el-Mandeb over the weekend, transporting Saudi crude that had been loaded at Yanbu, with their transponders turned off, according to analytics firms Vortexa and Kpler. The ships were later detected off the coast of Oman after previously pinging their location near the Red Sea port.