Tankers Mask Saudi Oil Loadings With Fake Destinations to Evade Houthis

Maritime operators are broadcasting false destinations in Egypt and the Suez Canal to conceal crude loadings at Saudi Arabian ports, adapting stealth tactics to shield tankers from expanding Houthi strikes in the Red Sea.

Stealth Loadings in Yanbu

Vessels entering the Red Sea are turning off location transponders before picking up cargoes from Yanbu, one of two main crude export terminals in the waterway.

Analytic assessments from Kpler and Vortexa Ltd. confirm that several tankers, including the Sea Majesty, loaded Saudi oil while dark before reappearing near the Suez Canal.

The Sea Majesty registered Ain Sukhna, an Egyptian terminal equipped with extensive storage infrastructure, as its official destination without ever signaling a port call in Saudi Arabia.

Escalating Regional Blockades

The covert loading maneuvers follow a late-July blockade declaration by the Iranian-backed Yemeni group targeting Saudi-linked maritime traffic.

Houthi forces recently vowed to extend strikes into the northern Red Sea, directly threatening routes used by state energy firm Aramco to bypass southern chokepoints.

In response, commercial fleets are relying on destinations like Ain Sukhna and Sidi Kerir, whose mixed commercial traffic makes them less vulnerable to proxy strikes.

Shadow Fleet Operations

Tracking data shows multiple vessels adopting identical evasion protocols to maintain crude flows through the region.

The Maran Thetis idled in the Gulf of Aden while signaling the Suez Canal, only to re-emerge fully laden with Yanbu crude, according to Vortexa metrics.

Similarly, the Front Empire and the DHT Gazelle conducted dark passages in the Red Sea to collect Saudi cargoes before resuming transmissions prior to exiting the canal.

Sudan's Bashayer terminal remains the only alternative Red Sea loading facility, though it rarely handles major crude volumes, leaving Yanbu as the primary source of these hidden cargoes.