"Ships Must Apply to Houthis by Email to Transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea"

U.S. WSJ obtains and analyzes emails between ships and Houthi rebels

A supporter attending a rally in support of Houthi rebels in Sana'a, Yemen, on Friday, October 9, 2026, wears a military uniform and holds a mock missile. AP-Yonhap News

Yemen's Houthi rebels are reportedly operating a system that requires ships to apply by email for permission to transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the entrance to the Red Sea.

On November 6 (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said it had obtained emails exchanged between the Houthis and the captain of a ship seeking to transit the strait and analyzed them to establish how the system works.

An email dated August 16, 2026, published by the WSJ quoted a ship's captain as saying, "The vessel's owner, management company and operator are all Chinese companies, and all of its crew members are Chinese." The captain added, "We formally declare that the vessel has no connection to Israel, the United Kingdom or the United States, and request safe passage through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait."

The email also detailed the ship's expected times of passage and coordinates at key points. It stated that the ship understood and would comply with the "ban on maritime traffic to and from Saudi Arabian ports" announced by the Yemeni armed forces (the Houthis) on July 20, 2026.

The email was sent to clearances@hocc.gov.ye. HOCC is the English abbreviation for the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, established by the Houthi rebels in 2024. The group says the center processes transit applications from shipping companies and notifies them of sanctions it has imposed.

The WSJ reported, "Initially, ships with no links to the United States, the United Kingdom or Israel could transit without contacting the HOCC. But after the Houthis declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia in July, some shipping companies began seeking assurances of safe passage from the HOCC before entering the Red Sea."

The Houthi rebels reportedly responded to requests within 24 hours when they granted permission to transit. In an email replying to an application for a seven-day transit permit dated September 7, 2026, the Houthis wrote, "We appreciate your understanding of the criteria for vessels currently subject to the transit ban. The vessel you have applied for may safely transit the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea."

The email continued, "Keep the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and VHF radio channel 16 (the international distress frequency) on at all times while in transit, and report any suspicious activity you observe." It also included contact information and instructions for subscribing to email alerts with the latest information.

The captain of the Chinese vessel Zhongcheng Changling, which transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after following this procedure, told the WSJ, "The ship's management company told us to contact the Houthis in case anything happened."

The WSJ said the Houthis' approval emails "show a considerable degree of organization and capacity for a rapid response." However, it noted that international maritime authorities' official guidance is not to contact the HOCC.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.