Car carrier seized by Houthis

A ship owned by Ray Car Carriers and operated by Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) was hijacked by the Houthis in waters near the Yemeni coastline on Sunday, bringing instability to international trade lanes in the wake of war between Israel and Hamas.

The Galaxy Leader car carrier has a crew of 22. It was boarded by armed forces repelling from a helicopter, a method Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps have used in vessel seizures in the Strait of Hormuz in recent years. The ship has been taken to Salif port in Yemen.

Ray Car Carriers is controlled by Israeli tycoon Abraham Rami Ungar. Two vehicle carriers belonging to the same company were reportedly targeted by Iran in 2021 in the Gulf of Oman.

The Houthi armed forces spokesperson said over the weekend that they would continue to target Israeli-affiliated merchant shipping.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary said today the government was working to get the ship and its crew released. The crew is made up mostly of Filipinos and Bulgarians.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran, which backs the Houthi militia, for the hijacking.

“We strongly condemn the Iranian attack against an international ship,” Netanyahu said. “This is another act of Iranian terrorism which expresses a leap forward in Iran’s aggression against the citizens of the free world, and creates international implications regarding the security of global shipping lanes.”