Houthis Say Bab el-Mandeb Shipping Nearly Back to Normal

The significance here is less the traffic figure than who is certifying it: a non-state actor is presenting itself as the arbiter of a chokepoint's normalcy, with the exception carved out for Saudi vessels rather than for shipping at large. That framing implies the disruption has narrowed to a single flag rather than the waterway itself, which matters for insurers and operators weighing Bab el-Mandeb against the Cape route. Whether the exemption stays confined to Saudi-linked tonnage, and whether independent transit data corroborates the claim, is the open question.