A senior Houthi rebels official told a Japanese TV that they are ready, for the first time, to end Galaxy Leader car carrier kidnapping and its 25 crew members 14-month incarceration.
All-Nippon News Network (ANN) has broadcast an interview with the Houthi leader who said: ”Through Palestinian negotiators, we guarantee that the ship and its crew will be freed in the coming days.”
It has now been 429 days that the crew of the Galaxy Leader car carrier have been held hostage by the Houthis in Yemen.
Armed Houthis stormed the ship via helicopter on November 19, 2023, taking the car carrier and its crew hostage and ushering in a period of time that became known as the Red Sea shipping crisis with more than 100 vessels attacked by the Houthis, ostensibly in support of Hamas.
The huge re-routing of much of the global merchant fleet around Africa is costing the global economy $175bn per year, according to recent estimates from The Economist magazine.
Suez Canal transits overall are down 56% from 2023, with containerships down 90%, LNG carriers down 80%, LPG carriers down 67%, product tankers down 59%, dry bulk down 52% and crude tanker transits down 48%, according to data from Jefferies, an investment bank.