With shipping firm Maersk preparing to allow vessels to resume sailing through the Red Sea, Jacksonville-based sailors are among the U.S. forces now stepping up security in the Middle East to protect commercial vessels threatened by Houthi rebels.
Houthi attacks have led to a major disruption of shipping through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, one of the most important arteries for trade in oil, natural gas, grain and consumer goods between Europe and Asia.
Maersk said in a statement Sunday that “we have received confirmation that the previously announced multi-national security initiative Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) has now been set up and deployed to allow maritime commerce to pass through the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden and once again return to using the Suez Canal as a gateway between Asia and Europe. ”
The company said it was working on plans for the first vessels to make the journey “and for this to happen as soon as operationally possible.”
Mayport-based ships have already engaged with rebel fighters in the Red Sea.
Sailors aboard the USS Carney have been busy fighting off attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. They join other Mayport-based crews like those on the USS Thomas Hudner and the USS Mason. That amounts to thousands of service members defending the waters of the Red Sea.
The Houthis are Iranian-backed rebels who seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, launching a grinding war against a Saudi-led coalition seeking to restore the government. The Houthis have sporadically targeted ships in the region, but the attacks have increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The rebels have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel. That has escalated to apparently any vessel, with container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries like Norway and Liberia being attacked or drawing missile fire.
“These attacks are reckless, dangerous, and they violate international law,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.
Major shipping companies including Maersk have been avoiding the Red Sea and sending their ships around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. That added what analysts say could be a week to two weeks of voyages. The disruption also hiked fuel and insurance costs.
Maersk company leaders acknowledge there’s still risk and say they’ll change plans if their crews are in danger, but this is a key route that’s responsible for 10% to 15% of trade worldwide.
So Maersk is resuming its routes through the volatile region, relying on protection from the U.S. fleets and their allies like the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.
“Somebody’s at serious risk. I guess the aim point is going to be these merchant ships. But if we’ve got warships out there protecting them, they’re going to be in the line of fire as well,” said retired Adm. Robert Natter.
Natter, the former commander of the Atlantic Fleet, said in addition to the men and women on the battleships, there are also air squadrons like those from NAS Jacksonville.
“When you start putting lead in the air and flying it at high speeds, somebody’s going to get hit, whether it’s on purpose or inadvertently, but the bottom line is, once you get hit, you got to do something about it,” Natter said, adding that it’s a delicate situation. “The Pentagon is not sitting around a Christmas tree doing nothing. They’re doing contingency planning, and they’re pretty effective at it.”
On Saturday, a U.S. warship shot down four incoming drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas, and a Norwegian-flagged chemicals and oil tanker reported a near miss of an attack drone, while an India-flagged tanker was hit with no injuries reported., the U.S. Central Command said Sunday on X, formerly Twitter. The incidents represented the 14th and 15th attacks on commercial shipping by the Houthis since Oct. 17.