Bab el-Mandeb — Live Tanker Traffic

Bab el-Mandeb - Arabic for 'Gate of Grief' - is a 30-kilometre-wide strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, and by extension to the Suez Canal route and the Indian Ocean. It sits at the southern end of the Red Sea, bordered by Yemen to the east and Djibouti and Eritrea to the west, and serves as the gateway for vessels travelling between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal.

Since late 2023, Houthi missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb zone have severely disrupted tanker traffic. Many shipping companies have suspended Red Sea transits entirely, diverting vessels on the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope. This disruption has significantly increased shipping costs and voyage times for crude oil and LNG tankers serving European markets.

TankerMap tracks all tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb zone in real time, providing up-to-date intelligence on which vessels are currently transiting this high-risk corridor, their speed and heading, and their cargo destinations.