Indicative war-risk premiums for ships transiting the Red Sea have jumped 150% to about 0.75% of vessel value from roughly 0.3% after Yemen’s Houthi movement imposed an immediate maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia, according to insurance-market sources.
The increase could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of insuring a vessel for a seven-day voyage. The figures remain market indications rather than a uniform tariff, with no named insurer, broker or maritime regulator publicly issuing the 0.75% rate.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced the measure on 20 July under an “eye for an eye” principle and said it would take effect immediately.
UK maritime risk management company Ambrey placed Saudi-flagged, owned or operated vessels, ships calling at or departing Saudi ports and Saudi Red Sea ports in a high-risk category.
“Saudi Arabia-affiliated or port calling shipping is assessed to be at high risk,” Ambrey said. It urged companies to review vessel affiliations and reconsider high-risk transits through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Saudi coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said protective measures had begun for commercial vessels linked to the coalition and passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the kingdom would take measures to protect its ships under international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It said more than 300 commercial vessels carrying food, goods, fuel and construction materials entered the northern Yemeni ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Isa during the first half of 2026.
The higher premiums reflect a reassessment of prospective risk rather than a newly confirmed attack. An operational advisory issued on 19 July recorded no confirmed attacks on merchant ships in the southern Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb during the preceding 72 hours.
Ambrey, founded in the UK in 2010, is a maritime risk management group providing security, intelligence, insurance and vessel-support services to shipowners, operators and charterers.