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Violent year in Red Sea marked by call for release of Galaxy Leader hostages
International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) secretary general calls for immediate release of 25 seafarers held on board the car carrier in Yemen
ICS Secretary General Guy Platten has again called for the release of 25 seafarers on board the 4,500-CEU pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) vessel Galaxy Leader.
The vessel and its crew have been held in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah since 19 August 2023, when Galaxy Leader was hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control much of the country and have been attacking merchant vessels transiting the waterways near Yemen for a year with the aid of Iranian weapons and training.
Speaking in Hong Kong, secretary general Platten said, "The seafarers, some of whom have been at sea for nearly two years, have been held against their will [having] only limited contact with their families, friends and loved ones. This is unconscionable and must not be allowed to endure. We are thinking of the seafarers and all of those affected at this time, and we continue to call for humanity to prevail and their immediate release,” Mr Platten said.
More than 100 vessels have been targeted by Houthi missiles and drone attacks over the course of the last 12 months.
With ship crews in the line of fire and at risk of death or injury from missile and drone attacks while at work, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and others have repeatedly called for release of the crew of Galaxy Leader being held hostage in Yemen.
Pure car and truck carrier Galaxy Leader, registered in the UK and owned by the Israeli Abraham Rami Ungar-controlled Ray Car Carriers, was was being operated by Japan’s NYK Line and its crew members reportedly come from Bulgaria, the Philippines, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico.
Crew killed and ships sunk in Houthi attacks
A Houthi missile that struck Barbados-flagged, 50,000-dwt True Confidence bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden in March 2024 took the lives of three mariners and left at least four others injured, three severely.
Another seafarer’s life was taken in mid-June 2024 when 82,000-dwt bulk carrier Tutor was targeted in a Houthi drone and missile attack. The crew was forced to abandon ship, and the vessel was reportedly sunk in a follow-up attack.
On 2 March, Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier Rubymar sank in the Red Sea after being struck by a Houthi missile two weeks earlier on 18 February. According to US Centcom, the vessel had been slowly taking on water and drifting following the attack.
US Centcom said the 18 February missile attack had caused a 29-km oil slick to form around the vessel. The ship was carrying about 21,000 tonnes of fertiliser, CENTCOM said.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government’s foreign minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) at the time, "The sinking of the Rubymar is an environmental catastrophe that Yemen and the region have never experienced before."
The fatal missile and drone attacks against merchant vessels transiting through the once heavily trafficked bodies of water in the Red Sea region have prompted sefarer’s union Nautilus International, among others, to call for the cessation of Red Sea transits by commercial vessels.
"No commercial interests should ever take precedence over the safety and lives of our seafarers," Nautilus International said in a message directed at shipowners in March in the wake of the deadly attack on True Confidence. "We believe it is time for those shipowners who are continuing to transit through the Red Sea to reassess the necessity of their decision considering recent events including the sinking of Rubymar and the tragic incident on board True Confidence," the union said.
Many shipowners and operators have altered shipping routes to take vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a difference of between one and two weeks for various cargoes and ship types.
The Iran-backed Houthis have waged attacks on commercial shipping since late November 2023, claiming the attacks come in reprisal for Israel’s bombing of Palestinian territories.
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