21 February 2024 (Lloyd's List) - THE Houthis claim to have attacked a Mediterranean Shipping Company vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday amid a flurry of attacks by the Iran-backed militants in recent days.
A Houthi spokesperson said on social media platform X that the group “carried out a targeting operation against an Israeli ship ‘MSC Silver’ in the Gulf of Aden with a number of suitable naval missiles.”
MSC has been approached for comment.
No attack was reported on the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations’ website as of six hours after the Houthis’ released their statement.
Vessel-tracking data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence shows MSC Silver II (IMO: 9225249), a general cargoship with container capacity, turned off its Automatic Identification System transponder in the Arabian Sea on February 15 as it sailed towards the Gulf of Aden from Colombo. It reappeared in the early hours of Tuesday (local time) off Somalia before heading to Berbera, where it appears to have docked.
The Liberia-flagged vessel operates on MSC’s Yemen Express 1 service between Colombo and Salalah, with stops in Berbera and Aden.
The Swiss liner announced a rerouting of all ships bound to the Suez Canal following the attack on MSC United VIII (IMO: 9302619) in late December.
The purported attack on Silver II would be the Houthis’ fifth in as many days and follows the formal launch of the European Union’s Operation Aspides to protect cargo ships in the Red Sea on Monday.
In the statement, the Houthis also claimed to have carried out drone strikes against US naval ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US Central Command (Centcom) said on X that it had shot down ten one-way attack drones in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between 2000 hrs on Monday and 0030 hrs on Tuesday, and destroyed one that was prepared to launch.
It also destroyed a surface to air missile in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, and said USS Laboon shot down an anti-ship cruise missile launched towards it.
Centcom also confirmed the strikes on the Greece-flagged Sea Champion (IMO: 9299915) and Marshall Islands-flagged Navis Fortuna (IMO: 9404455). No injuries and minor damage to the vessels were reported in both incidents, Centcom said.
Sea Champion was hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile while Navis was hit by a drone, according to Centcom. Another missile fired by the Houthis on Monday did not impact any vessels.
The attacks on the two vessels came after the Belize-flagged Rubymar (IMO: 9138898) was heavily damaged by Houthi missiles on Sunday, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel and leaving it in risk of sinking.
The vessel’s owners have signed a Lloyd’s Open Form salvage contract and were attempting to tow the heavily damaged ship to Djibouti, Lloyd’s List reported on Tuesday.
