All About the All rounder of shipping container : The Side opening shipping containers

If your cargo is long and challenging to load or you simply want fast and easy access to the load then a side door container is exactly what you need. There are 20ft & 40ft options with side doors on one or both sides and the option for an internal deck if the load needs to be divided along the length of the container. For any long or awkward load that does not require additional high the solution will be found in a side door shipping container



20'ft Side opening shipping containers

The  20'ft side opening shipping containers are very popular with customers wanting quick and easy access to items stored. Often used for pallets, or for the storage of large and bulky items that won’t fit through the end doors of a shipping container.

20'ft Side opening shipping containers

There is a lot more interest in conversions, turning 20ft side opening shipping containers into self contained mobile exhibition stands, cafes and snack stands and retail outlets. We also find these very popular for generator housings, biomass boilers and for a number of specialised engineering applications.


For export use these 20ft side opening shipping containers are very popular for vehicles or oversize items – anything that you can’t easily load through the end doors of a container. Only some of the ranges of side opening containers we have available have floor mounted lashing points – so if you need these for securing your cargo please make clear to us early on.

For storage use these offer excellent easy access secure storage units. If you need to store pallets but don’t want to spend your time digging out a pallet from the wrong end of a standard shipping container then this solution can be ideal. Also if you have any rapid response storage requirements, or if you’re storing any stock that is simply too big to fit through the end doors in a shipping container.


Watch Video on Side Door Container
Video on Side Door Container

40ft high cube side opening shipping containers 
These new (one trip) 40ft high cube side opening shipping containers offer excellent capacity, easy flexible access and a superb level of security. They are ideal if you need to store pallets, large oversize items or for emergency response setups where you may need access to a variety of kit at very short notice.

40ft high cube side opening shipping containers 

This is a relatively new design and the shipping lines do not use them in their own fleets, 

These shipping containers are fitted with 1 huge set of side doors and a single set of end opening doors. This configuration is ideal to ensure that you can access to your goods quickly and easily, especially if you have a large turnover of goods and want to rotate them frequently without the need for expensive warehouse space. Some ranges offered do come with 2x sets of side doors and a central pillar also.


Side Door Container : Applications 

• Application as container home : This type of container is also used in the private domain. It is insulated at the walls, doors, roof, and floor to provide an attractive living area with an interior paneling of your choice. The movable side wall can be fitted with a glass front to provide a maximum of natural light. If the container home is not in use, the glass front can be closed and secured with a foldable door. The functionality of the doors is preserved.
• Application as freight container : This type of container shows its advantages when used to transport bulky goods by truck or train. Thanks to the option of loading from the side, unwieldy machine parts, wire boxes, pallets, and many other items are easily loadable.
• Application as bulker container :  When loading individually packaged goods, the Side Door Container can be loaded or unloaded by at least two workers at the same time, which speeds up the whole process. Smaller companies that don’t have the luxury of their own loading ramp also profit from the convenient functionality of the container since it allows forklifts to handle pallet goods easily and fuss-free.
• Application as storage and assembly container : The Side Door Container is a perfect storage container for storing large machinery, parts or other goods that would not fit through the doors of a standard container. Side Door Containers are also used as assembly containers – installations customized to your individual needs.
• Application as container with permanent installations :  The Side Door Container can be converted to a container with a grid installed at the movable side. This way aggregates, generators, power switching stations, heating systems, pumping plants, or storage tanks can be used effectively.
• Other possible applications :  The advantages of the Side Door Container are obvious. It is versatile, offers more flexibility and guarantees a faster and more cost-effective work process. Anything that won’t fit through the double door on the front-end of a “normal” container wfill find its place in a Side Door Box. It is low-priced, convenient and reliable. Once you have experienced the advantages of this container – in the industry, for transportation, as storage space – you surely won’t want to miss them in the future.
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What’s in your cloud?

What’s in your cloud?

Of all the Next Gen supply chain technologies, the cloud could be the most important today. Not only is it already widely used and growing rapidly, but cloud is central to optimizing supply chain performance on a broad scale. Experts state that Cloud will be the most impactful NextGen technology in the supply chain for the foreseeable future based entirely on its use as a backbone of data interchanges.

“The use of the cloud has exploded,” explains Tom Ward, cognitive project leader at IBM (see NextGen Supply Chain interview).

“Most information technology growth is on the cloud. Today, we are using artificial intelligence technologies on the cloud to understand, reason, learn and interact with our supply chain data.”

We’ve all heard of extremely high growth rates in cloud revenue at companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others. Many go so far as to attribute Amazon’s newfound profitability to the profitability of its cloud services.  No matter the angle considered, the cloud is proliferating rather quickly. 

Interest in cloud is increasing

A recent Goldman Sachs study projects large public firms will increase their cloud use from 18% this year to 34% next year. That Goldman survey also shows cloud as the fourth highest priority for IT departments this year.

Interest in cloud is showing up elsewhere, too. In fact, cloud is the NextGen technology generating the second highest level of interest across multiple departments in a range of companies. That’s according to a survey by Nick Vyas, assistant professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. 

Clearly, there’s something going on here. And from all indications, supply chain applications from the Internet of Things (IoT) to 3-D printing are just as tuned into the cloud as any finance application. 

“Real cloud applications are laying the foundation for innovative solutions from IoT to Blockchain,” says Diego Pantaoja-Navajas, vice president of WMS, Fusion SCM development at Oracle.

What’s the power of the cloud in the supply chain?

To begin, the cloud centralizes data and offers multiple entities access to that data, decreasing costs and speeding supply chain velocity while adding data security. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Walmart announced a five-year deal with Microsoft to use its cloud services. Why? Walmart wants to share sales and purchasing data with its vendors.

“If you look back three to five years, there was a very limited adoption of technology in procurement,” says Balaji Abbabatulla, research director at Gartner. “But the adoption of technology has accelerated since then. The cloud makes it so easy for procurement people to adopt new technology software applications,“ he adds.

There is another fundamental shift in the supply chain, and elsewhere for that matter, fueling cloud adoption. Quite simply, companies are starting to treat data as an asset. Furthermore, the value of data only increases as it is accessible across enterprises. While most will agree that we aren’t there yet, the direction is clear. All of this only bodes well for adoption of cloud, especially in the supply chain.

Quite simply, cloud is becoming a supply chain utility. It is a core capability that enables collaboration both internally and externally. The Walmart story is one example. So is the introduction of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things to supply chain applications. In most cases, it would be impossible for any other network technology to enable the flow of data and necessary sharing of data to make either NextGen technology live up to its potential across the supply chain. 

IBM, in particular, talks about running Blockchain on its cloud platform. It even has a name – Project Bletchley. Running blockchain in the cloud, says the company, enables it to run new functions and services not previously possible.

Elsewhere, consider the importance of cloud to something as established as ERP. Companies advocating cloud use here range from Oracle and IFS to Infor and others.

“To begin, hundreds of installations have made it clear that you can run WMS (warehouse management systems) in the cloud,” says Pantoja-Navajas of Oracle.

IFS’s senior advisor Jakob Bjorklund explains that his company’s software-as-a-service WMS runs completely in the cloud. But rather than running at Amazon or its competitors, this software runs in the IFS managed cloud.

Both the IBM and IFS efforts demonstrate the development of still another approach to cloud for supply chain applications. It doesn’t have to involve the big boys of cloud. Instead, companies deep into supply chain applications are developing their own hybrid cloud platforms, still another avenue to put this NextGen technology to work right now. 

Which raises the question - what’s in your cloud?

How to calculate package dimensions

How to calculate package dimensions

Working out the dimensions and weight of your package is important, as both factors can influence the cost of transportation, no matter which method is being used to deliver them.

For those that are sending packages via air freight, in the majority of cases, you will be charged according to the weight of your package.

Occasionally however, there will be some instances when you might be charged for the size of the package.

Items such as televisions and fridge freezers can be classed as volumetric cargo, which means that you’ll need to know the volumetric weight of the package.

HOW DO I CALCULATE THE DIMENSIONS OF MY PACKAGE?

In order to get the dimensions of the package, you need to measure its length, width, and height in centimetres.

HOW DO I CALCULATE THE VOLUMETRIC WEIGHT 

Each shipment will be charged according to its volumetric weight, as soon as the dimensional weight exceeds the actual weight. The dimensional weight is calculated using the formula ( for international ).

Length (cm) x width (cm) x height (cm)

------------------------------------------------------  =   volumetric weight of the shipment

                 5,000

HOW DO I ENSURE THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE FOR MY PACKAGE?

For those that are looking to package their own items, and want the best price, you should look to pack your items into the smallest possible space.

While not making the package too heavy (or endangering the contents), by packing items into the smallest possible box, you can look to avoid paying for volume rather than weight.

It’s worth noting however, that you will always be charged according to the higher figure.

If you happen to be sending multiple packages, then the combined actual weight of the items should be compared to the combined volumetric weight to determine which figure the shipment is going to be charged by.

IBM, Maersk launch blockchain-based shipping platform TRADELENS

After launching a proof of concept earlier this year, IBM and Maersk have unveiled TradeLens, the production version of an electronic ledger for tracking global shipments; the companies say they have 94 participants piloting the system, including more than 20 port and terminal operators.

The jointly developed electronic shipping ledger records details of cargo shipments as they leave their origin, arrive in ports, are shipped overseas and eventually received.

During the transportation process, all of the involved parties in the supply chain can view tracking information such as shipment arrival times and documents such as customs releases, commercial invoices and bills of lading in near real time via the permissioned blockchain ledger.

More than 160 million such shipping events have been captured on the platform, according to IBM and Maersk. "This data is growing at a rate of close to one million events per day," the companies said.

Traditionally, the international shipping industry's information systems have used paper legal documents, and electronic data was transmitted via electronic data interchange (EDI) - a 60-year-old technology that doesn't represent real-time data information.

Shipping participants have also shared documents via email, fax and courier.

When information is entered or scanned in manually, TradeLens can track critical data about every shipment in a supply chain, and it offers an immutable record among all parties involved, the companies said.

Some shipping manifests can also be moved via an API to the TradeLens platform, so that manufacturers and others in the supply chain have more timely information and improved visibility to the process.

Along with freight forwarders, transportation companies and logistics firms, more than 20 port and terminal operators are using or have agreed to pilot TradeLens, including PSA Singapore, International Container Terminal Services Inc., Patrick Terminals and Modern Terminals Ltd. in Hong Kong. Customs authorities in the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Australia and Peru are also participating.

"This accounts for approximately 234 marine gateways worldwide that have or will be actively participating on TradeLens," IBM said.

Hong Kong-based Modern Terminals became a beta partner of the TradeLens blockchain earlier this year.

"Digitized documentation that can at the same time be authenticated will drive down costs and increase supply chain security," Modern Terminals CEO Peter Levesque said via email.

As a port operator, Modern Terminals doesn't have a need to track shipments outside of its operating environment, but it keeps the status of containers coming in and out of its terminals via a Terminal Operating System (TOS), many of which utilize EDI and wireless LANs and Radio-frequency identification (RFID) to monitor cargo movements. The company handles about 5.5 million shipping containers per year at its Hong Kong business unit.

The documentation that accompanies a container of cargo from the factory floor to store shelf is cumbersome and open, Levesque said. A blockchain-based electronic ledger will provide a platform where all the documentation along the way can be viewed and updated in near real time and in a secure environment by authorized supply chain participants.

It will also give customs, commerce, and border patrol agents around the world "a higher degree of certainty about what's in the box, and who loaded it," Levesque added.

"Modern Terminals plans to be a regular user of the solution once full development and testing are complete," Levesque said. "We've only begun to scratch the surface on what we can use blockchain technology for in the transportation and logistics industry. Tackling the opportunity for improving the transmission of documents around the world is a great beginning. The next decade of development will be exciting to watch."

The Forces shaping Shipping

Retailers in America & Western Europe held their breath in September 2016 when container ships bringing goods from Asia due to fill their shelves at the peak Christmas shopping season were suddenly left stuck in ports halfway. Some ships were even stranded at sea

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Image for representation purpose only  : Hanjin, the South Korean shipping line, had filed for bankruptcy

Hanjin, the South Korean shipping line, had filed for bankruptcy, weighed down by a global economic downturn that had led to overcapacity, lower freight rates and rising debt levels in the shipping industry. The company was eventually wound up and its assets liquidated in the shipping industry's costliest and most notorious collapse.

To avoid this fate, shipping companies have for many years increasingly merged or bought each other in a classic process of consolidation that is having profound effects on the efforts of developing countries to better engage with global trade.

On the one hand, global trade benefits from low freight costs and improved shipping connectivity that result from economies of scale and technological advances, yet on the other hand the mergers among shipping lines and their investments in ever larger ships also pose serious challenges to smaller trading nations and their seaports.

The challenge for policymakers - the focus of a session at the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy convened by UNCTAD on 13 July - is to ensure that the benefits of lower costs and improved connectivity will be passed on to the smaller shippers and ports, while also responding to concentrated markets so that players are discouraged from abusing dominant positions.

The massive challenge for competition authorities

Competition authorities must analyse alliances, mergers and acquisitions in shipping and consider not only horizontal competition between carriers but also vertical integration between carriers and terminals.

For example, when shipping giant Maersk acquired competitor Hamburg Süd, the latter's services may switch from their previous terminal in Buenos Aires to the one operated by APM Terminals - which belongs to the same group as Maersk.

But there are several other phenomena shaping shipping in the 21st century that the national watchdogs must also monitor to ensure that trade continues to boost economic progress in developing countries.

Need for Bigger & bigger seaports

Ports are under pressure to dredge, expand yards and invest in ever larger ship-to-shore container cranes, often without any additional cargo throughput. Trucking, train and barge operators will incur additional expenses as vessel sizes and thus peak demand go up.

Port authorities and local governments need to carefully consider if the additional dredging and investment in berth, yard and hinterland transport capacity that shipping lines demand is worthwhile.

Domestic shipping markets

Many countries impose restrictions on international operators transporting goods domestically. In container shipping, this leads to situations in which a ship may call at two ports within the same country but is not allowed to transport cargo between these two ports.

Countries find themselves in the scenario where ports in neighbouring countries become the hub ports for their own cabotage or feedering services.

Montevideo, Uruguay, for example, acts as a relay port for services that connect two ports in Argentina. Sri Lanka benefits from cabotage restrictions in India as ships call at the port of Colombo, and from there international feedering services connect to seaports in India.

In response, policymakers should analyse the potential of opening up selected shipping services to international service providers to ensure competitive markets.

Hinterland connections

Closer distances usually involve lower transport costs and thus fewer negative externalities. However, in view of the need to fill ever larger ships, and the desire to keep alternative options open for shippers, policymakers may also want to expand each port's hinterland.

The resulting competitive pressures will encourage port operators to maximize their efficiency and pass on those efficiency gains to their clients, shippers and shipping lines.

Inter-port competition should not be limited to domestic seaports, but to neighbouring countries' ports as well, while effective instruments for enhancing inter-port competition are efficient trucking markets, rail and road infrastructure, and transit regimes.

Trade and transit

Under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade Facilitation, in force since 2017, as well as the International Maritime Organization's Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, members should establish committees in which stakeholders coordinate and cooperate in the implementation of trade and transport facilitation reforms.

Ideally, such collaborative platforms should go beyond compliance issues, aiming instead at all necessary reforms to facilitate international trade and its transport. Transit should be facilitated in line with international standards and recommendations, including those of the United Nations, the World Customs Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Monitoring and strengthening

Container shipping is a cornerstone of globalization. Thanks to the container shipping network, maritime transport connectivity has improved, and real freight costs have gone down. The operational efficiency gains achieved thanks to alliances have helped increase load factors and added further downward pressures on freight rates.

However, we have reached a situation where the reduced number of companies on some trade routes can result in oligopolistic market structures. This poses challenges to importers and exporters, who have less choice with whom to transport their goods. Larger ships and the combined bargaining power of lines in alliances also pose challenges to seaports which will have to invest ever more heavily in port infra- and superstructure.

National competition watchdogs will need to carefully monitor market developments and strengthen competition law enforcement against possible anti-competitive practices to ensure that limited competition does not lead to detrimental effects on costs, connectivity and economic growth in developing countries.

Logistics Technologies that are going to change the Industry

Globalization has revolutionized trading in so many ways, from bigger and faster vessels to robot-operated ports and vast computer databases tracking cargos, global trading has come a long way. But it all still relies on millions and millions of paper documents.

With the ongoing digital revolution, the freight Industry will surely look very different in the upcoming years.

Unlike the previous revolutions, such as “The Containerization” that took place in the 1960s, where it was all about big vessels and equipment worth millions of dollars with the big players having an unfair financial advantage, this time around there are no such unfair advantages, it’s a technical revolution, it’s about the ability to catch up with the rapidly evolving technology.

Here are Logistics Technologies that are going to change the Industry:

BLOCKCHAIN

With hundreds of pages that need to be physically delivered to dozens of different agencies, banks, customs bureaus and other entities for a single shipment, the whole trading process becomes very tedious and expensive. According to a recent survey, the processing and administration costs go up to 20-25% of the overall transportation cost.

These major inefficiencies that have plagued the world of logistics for decades, and Blockchain, the electronic ledger system, has emerged as a solution. With the help of Blockchain, the involvement of physical paperwork can be minimized if not completely abolished. Moreover, Blockchain can also help in reducing processing times for goods at customs checkpoints, thus making custom clearance quicker.

INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)

As there are numerous parties involved in any transportation, the major issues faced by organizations are the lack of transparency and connectivity between all parties involved. With the Internet of Things (IoT), a centralized cloud-based network can be set up, allowing all the devices to capture and share critical data, thus increasing real-time visibility, connectivity it enables the organization to effectively track their shipments, and the conditions of these shipments, thus making the process faster and efficient.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

It has been of great interest for many organizations in the past, but the high costs of integrating high-end industrial robots for complex logistics operations acted a barrier for many years. Now, with technology getting cheaper, more accessible and easier to integrate, many manufacturers are looking forward to capitalizing on it.

In recent years, it has proved to be very effective in crucial port-operations, such as Fleet management – Warehouse management, Self-driven vehicles and more.

Many big players have successfully adopted Artificial Intelligence to mitigate costly repairs and downtime, thus decreasing maintenance and insurance charges making the productivity levels reach previously unimaginable levels of optimization.

PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS

Predictive analysis, the new buzzword, is a practice that is being used by many companies, which allows them to anticipate the status of the market, by identifying emerging patterns in the marketplace and give a strong piece of information, enabling them to create customer specific strategies to act upon. 

By continuously monitoring and analyzing the shipping data, the performance of the carriers and liner rates, one can build strategies to optimize the supply chain.

ROBOTICS

Robotics has been a part of logistics, for a very long time. In Freight Industry, where it is mandatory to be very consistent and precise in the day to day tasks that are repetitive in nature, the adoption of robotics and automation is not very surprising.

DHL's new robot picker

With the incorporation of the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, many shipping companies have successfully cut down labor and maintenance cost and also have increased quality and performance of the process.

Shipping feels the heat of geopolitical crises

The international shipping sector has been under intense pressure over the past few years, impacted by concerns about overcapacity, volatile fuel prices, the enforcement of new environmental regulations and the challenges of digitalisation. Now, an array of geopolitical crises are looming over the industry, threatening to impact trade flows and leaving shippers uncertain of their next move.

A much-welcomed industry redress was observed in the second half of last year, after the Baltic Dry Index rose by 50% over the six-month period, and overall industry confidence hit a three-year, as analysts from the Moore Stephens shipping industry group observed.

But both old unresolved international disputes and new conflicts are contributing to an uncertain geopolitical climate, and much like a stormy sea, such forces can quickly destabilise shipping and alter trade flows.

As the London School of Economics notes, entrepreneurs, market participants and central bank officials view geopolitical risks as a key determinant of investment decisions. In 2016, 74% of CEOs of the world’s largest companies polled by PwC cited ‘geopolitical uncertainty’ as their second most important concern.

The US-China tariff stand-off

The ongoing tariff dispute between the US and China is threatening to approach a full-on trade war, with both sides imposing higher levies on billions of dollars’ worth of imports, while experts fear that the crumbling political relationship between the two superpowers might have a detrimental effect on container shipping lines.

According to geopolitical intelligence platform Stratfor, the $50bn in tariffs officially announced by the US, as well as China’s retaliation, would have put nearly 7% of the US-China container trade at risk.

However, while such tariffs would not influence the actual volume of goods being transported – as market demand isn’t necessarily affected by spur-of-the-moment political decisions – they could potentially change the direction in which goods travel. This is tricky in itself, as international trade already relies heavily on a handful of transit chokepoints that are already over capacity, and switching up these shipping lanes could cause further complications, lengthen transport times and burden shippers with additional costs.

US sanctions on Iran

The fraught relationship between the US and Iran is another source of worry for shipping insiders.

The next wave of sanctions, which will take effect in November, targets the Iranian shipping industry in particular, with companies including the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), South Shipping Line Iran, and their affiliates to be most affected. These sanctions will comprise of restrictions on providing insurance to a wide range of Iranian industries, including shipping, sanctions on Iran’s port operators, shipbuilders, and shipping lines and sanctions on petroleum-related transactions with the National Iranian Oil Company. Iran’s energy and financial sectors are also being targeted.

Even with months still to go before these sanctions are enforced, international operators have already started pulling out of Iran in anticipation, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company have already started pulling out their cargo shipments. Meanwhile in Europe, the UK, France and Germany have emphasised they will continue their trade relationship with Iran.

Despite support from Europe, the sanctions will have global reverberations, as Iran accounts for 5% of the global output of crude oil, the majority of which goes to China, Japan, India and South Korea.

Brexit confusion leaves shippers wondering

The debacle surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) is still raging on, and while more negotiations, U-turns and much animosity are still to come, the UK shipping industry has been trying to find its bearings amid the chaos.

At the beginning of this year, Maritime UK chairman David Dingle pleaded with the government to “do this as quickly as possible because if there is no transition period the industry as a whole will be in trouble”.

This plea came after Dingle urged the development of a new customs agreement between the UK and EU in February last year, warning that “failure to secure a deal will not only see delays and disruption at ports like Dover, Holyhead and Portsmouth, but also in the EU at ports like Zeebrugge, Calais and Dublin.”

While the full impact of Brexit on shipping – from general market conditions to border controls, cabotage, ports and terminals – is still unknown, the British International Freight Association noted that “a slowdown in UK GDP will mean a slowdown in UK maritime trade”. However, in the long term, as trade agreements are negotiated with other, non-EU countries, the UK could work with those nations to open up new import sources and export destinations.

South China Sea dispute

At the crossroads between Hong Kong, the Philippines and Vietnam, the South China Sea is both a key shipping route and one of the world’s top resource regions, home to half a billion people who live within 100 miles of its coastline and rich in oil and natural gas.

But the region is also at the heart of an international territorial dispute, in which China uses the controversial ‘Nine-Dash Line’ to claim 90% of the territories in the South China Sea. This demarcation is contested by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

This is problematic, since as much as 50% of global oil tanker shipments pass through the South China Sea, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, making the waters one of the world’s busiest international sea lanes. It is also the easiest access route from Europe to Asia, with 33% of the world’s maritime traffic passing through these waters.

An escalation of this long-standing conflict took place in May, when Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to go to war over China’s attempts to exploit the area’s resources. The threat came after China placed long-range bombers on one of the disputed islands for the first time, fuelling fears that conflict is brewing.

Passing through this region, tankers carrying goods worth billions of dollars are often in hot waters: trespassing any demarcation lines would have tremendous consequences for international trade, and could even escalate to an armed conflict.

Rebels use Red Sea strait as political pawn

The acrimonious conflict between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and domestic rebel forces following a failed attempt to restore prosperity within the country after the Arab Spring led to what the UN has called “the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster”.

The tragedy is unfolding at one of the most strategic trade points by sea, as Yemen sits on the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, a narrow chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, which serves as the gateway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The fact that the strait is a critical access point for much of the world’s oil shipments is being used as a bargaining chip by Yemen’s Houthis, who since 2015 have repeatedly threatened to either attack commercial ships passing through the 18km-wide waterway, or completely block the lane.

Several countries have flagged potential armed attacks on merchant vessels as a top risk in the area and have issued guidance for those who need to pass through these waters, including advice to use armed security staff on board for protection.