Yemen’s Houthis have mounted one of their most damaging attacks yet on a commercial vessel after the Iran-backed group struck a bulk carrier in an incident that forced its crew to abandon the ship.
The attack on the Rubymar, which was carrying cargo from the United Arab Emirates to Bulgaria, underlines the Houthis’ continuing threat to ships traversing the Red Sea despite a recent lull in successful strikes as a result of regular US and UK attacks on missile launching sites.
Another dry bulk carrier, the Sea Champion, faced two missile attacks on Monday in the Gulf of Aden.
All the strikes came hours after the US’s central military command (Centcom) said it had identified a submarine drone among the Houthis’ military arsenal for the first time.
The UK’s Dubai-based Maritime Trade Operations said the attack on the Rubymar took place 35 nautical miles south of al-Mukha in Yemen. The Houthis’ official spokesperson said they attacked the ship, which they described as British, and the vessel was now at risk of sinking. They also said they shot down a US military drone.
This is the first time a crew has had to abandon a ship after an attack by the Houthis, whose weapons have mostly either missed targeted ships or inflicted only minor damage.
It is also the first reported direct hit by a Houthi weapon on a ship since a fire broke out on January 26 on the Marlin Luanda, a fuel tanker operating on behalf of commodities trader Trafigura.
In the second incident, UKMTO said the master of a ship had reported an explosion “in close proximity” to his vessel 100 nautical miles east of Aden.
Information from maritime security firm Ambrey Intelligence and from marinetraffic.com showed the vessel was the Sea Champion, a bulk carrier carrying corn from Argentina to Aden, a Yemeni port city that is held by the Houthis’ Saudi-backed opponents.
Two hours later, the vessel faced a second attack in which Ambrey said a projectile had hit the water around 10 metres from the ship. The crew was unharmed.
Owners of dry bulk ships, which carry non-containerised bulk commodities, have been reluctant to abandon the Red Sea route to the Suez Canal since the start of Houthi attacks in November.
Data from London-based Clarksons has shown that arrivals of container ships around the mouth of the Red Sea have fallen more than 90 per cent since early December, while bulk carrier arrivals have only halved.
The Houthis say they are targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesperson, said on Monday that the Rubymar had suffered “catastrophic damages” and come to a complete halt. “It is now at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden,” Sare’e added. “During the operation, we made sure that the ship’s crew exited safely.”
Referring to a strike from the nearby Red Sea port of Hodeidah, he added: “The Yemeni air defences were able to shoot down an American plane with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country.”
Sare’e identified the downed aircraft as an MQ9, a type of unmanned aircraft known as a Reaper drone.
UKMTO confirmed that the Rubymar’s crew had abandoned the ship but added: “Vessel at anchor and all crew are safe.”
Ambrey suggested mechanical problems might have contributed to the vessel’s abandonment. “The vessel was drifting in a pattern consistent with engine failure [before the event] and had been temporarily detained in December 2023 for several propulsion and auxiliary machinery defects,” Ambrey said.
Centcom revealed it had destroyed an “unmanned underwater vessel” (UUV) during a series of strikes on Saturday that also hit an unmanned surface vessel and three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles.
“This is the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV since attacks began,” Centcom said on Sunday.
The Rubymar flies the flag of Belize. Its registered owner is a company called Golden Adventure Shipping, with an address in the UK port of Southampton.
It was not clear, however, who ultimately controlled the ship. Ambrey described it as “UK registered and Lebanon operated”.
The Sea Champion’s registered owner is New York-based MKM Chartering.
Written by: Robert Wright in London
© Financial Times