Israeli Admission: The Yemen blockade inflicted significant losses on us, and Eilat Port alone lost $3 billion


Eilat Port alone has incurred initial direct losses of $3 billion as a result of Yemeni operations against Israeli navigation in the Red Sea, according to the director of the Israeli Environment and Welfare Institute, Moshe Tirdeman.

Exclusive Follow-up – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

According to an analysis written by Tirdeman on the Middle East Institute’s website, Israel’s situation in the Red Sea in recent months represents an increasing challenge in security, economics, and diplomatic fields.

The analysis points out that the most important direct security threats to Israel are the drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles used by Yemenis to attack Israel, in addition to imposing an actual naval blockade in the Red Sea.

Tirdeman explains that the Yemenis have expanded their attacks to include the broader Indian Ocean. Furthermore, the attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted maritime transportation through the Red Sea, with a more than 50% decline in the volume of goods passing through the Suez Canal since November, which has led to effectively imposing a naval blockade against Israel from the south.

According to Tirdeman, the actual blockade on the Red Sea has caused damage to Israel’s economy. Eilat Port, which primarily deals with importing cars and exporting potassium fertilizers to Asia and the Pacific region, alone suffered approximately $3 billion in direct economic losses. As a result of this situation, the CEO of Eilat Port, Gideon Gholber, called on the Israeli government to pay the salaries of port employees.

Tirdeman also indicates that there is another long-term challenge facing Israel, which is that ships move away from Israeli ports as they avoid the Red Sea and navigate around Africa, thus marginalizing Israel’s Mediterranean ports and trade routes. This is especially significant as ships carrying containers are bound for multiple countries and may prefer to avoid Israel rather than travel a long distance towards it.

Tirdeman stated, “Silent sanctions on Israel are associated with these challenges. More and more international shipping lines, including China’s COSCO and Taiwan’s Evergreen, temporarily stop or suspend transporting goods to Israel or accepting Israeli goods. Additionally, an increasing number of ship crews request their managers refrain from sailing in the Red Sea or stopping in Israel due to expected security risks, while some foreign shipping companies have chosen to unload their goods destined for Israel in Piraeus, Greece, where a related company to Israel takes the remaining part of the route.”



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