The Bab el-Mandeb: The World's Most Contested Chokepoint

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The Bab el-Mandeb: The World's Most Contested Chokepoint


Global Shipping, the Red Sea, and the Houthis
November 4, 2024

In this episode, Sal Mercogliano – a maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu), and former merchant mariner – discusses the latest issues regarding the diversion of global shipping around Africa and avoiding the Bab el-Mandeb.

1️⃣ IMO Chief Calls for “Urgent”…

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46 Comments

  1. Its not like the Houthi example at the Bab El-Mandeb would ever apply to other areas in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Straits. There's war in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; the US has just elected a president that wants to pull-up the trade draw bridge, and pullout of other defense commitments, while the Europeans are tied up with Russia. What could go wrong….

  2. Sal, I'm a retired US Navy Sailor who served aboard the USS Cole 2016-2019. We spent a great amount of time and risked a lot sitting just north of the BAM following the Houthis' successful attack on the Saudi Arabian frigate in January 2017. I randomly stumbled across your page several months ago now and have been sharing it with a lot of my friends. Thank you for what you do here. I wish more people truly understood how important international shipping is to our global economy and fragile it all is.

  3. The constitution does not say that it is up to US taxpayers to make the world safe for trade. The military oath I took was to defend the Constitution. Not to defend businesses who choose to do business in dangerous parts of the world.

  4. Your contradictions are becoming transparent. Most of the ships getting through are for Russia, China, and local, yet the Houthis are indiscriminately targeting. And I f they are targeting ships who haven’t paid them off, that is not indiscriminate.

  5. OK, figure it out. The Russians do not need to get involved in the middle east to get back at the US. They are winning in Ukraine. You may be a shipping expert. But you need to learn geopolitics if you are going to comment on it.

  6. It surely would be "irresponsible" to describe the Germans and NATO in general as ignoring actual, real necessary defense requirements…. surely saying they have been prevaricating for the last thirty plus years and not investing in their own defense or meeting obligations to NATO would be just awful. Good thing everything is just fine and no changes need be made….
    Peaceful Skies

  7. I think we let pretty much everything through our very narrow straits here in Denmark, but I also believe, we insist on guidance, so we don't have any more mishaps than necessary with bridges and so forth.

  8. Bab el-Mandeb is not contested between any nations, it's international passage. Nobody contested this fact. what's going on now is artificial crisis created by USA when they send alqaeda out of Afghanistan. cultivating Chaos in Yemen for more than 2 decades. then comes the massacres in Gaza committed by (Israel, UK and USA) jointly. what you expect from the people of Yemen?? they are preventing those Criminal nations from the passage. their condition is very clear. stop the Massacres and the passage is free again. as simple as that.

  9. shipping czars don't care because it gives them an excuse to jack up shipping prices. why are things more expensive these days? hmmmm i wonder…

  10. Sal one of the reasons why the German Navy not sailing through this area could be that the ships are not loaded with live ammunition – this story broke a few years ago that ships and aircraft are not loaded with real ammunition due to budget cuts and the state of readiness of the armed forces and ammunition supply

  11. Because you say they have no connection does not mean they have no connection 😂
    You have all the intricate details of company ownerships and their tangled webs I'm sure.

  12. Sal, what you reveal is that the damn Houthis are a Mofia shakedown protection racket! Israeli ownership is a rouse of an excuse for attacking a ship – they are going to target anyone who does not pay the protection money. The US Navy should be charging ships to be protected by the US as it seems these shipping firms are willing to pay not to be attacked. Why should we do it for free?

    I think you should be running a cabinet-level agency to straighten out the US maritime policy and infrastructure.

  13. The trade in the Mediterranean must have stop. But good trade for Latinamerika and africa. Long way to new york genua and Rotterdam. And problems in panama.

  14. I was hoping to see an increasingly tipsy Sal starting to slur his words toward the end of the video thanks to numerous mentions of That Strait…and I was brutally disappointed.
    Not disappointed in the video, though! Stellar content as always!

  15. The IMO have ever since their inception been a typical overstaffed (by wrong people) bureaucratic nightmare, very surprised they even noticed this, someone obviously kicked their rear.