Shipping Chiefs Support Strikes on Houthis, Call for Revamped Yemen Policy

Commercial carriers and supply chain analysts maintain the best way to protect Red Sea container shipping is to bolster the government of Yemen so it can wrest control of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait from the Houthis. Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Executive Vice President Bud Darr said a military response to Houthi attacks is necessary, but if the United States and its allies continue doing so without rebuilding the “neighborhood” alliance that throttled Somali piracy a decade ago, they’re “treating a symptom” but not the problem. He told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee on Jan. 30 that, “Ultimately, to keep sea lanes peaceful and open requires a strong element of diplomacy that, maybe, we shouldn’t expect to shoulder on the United States Navy or other navies but, rather, on diplomats and government leaders.”...