The crisis in shipping through the Red Sea is escalating as the Houthi attacks continue non-stop, threatening serious consequences for the global trade movement.

Sources in the shipping sector said on Wednesday that a cargo ship was abandoned by its crew members four days ago in the Gulf of Aden after it was targeted by missiles launched by the Yemeni Houthi movement. The ship is still afloat despite water leaking into it, and it can be towed to the nearby country of Djibouti.

Shipping risks have escalated due to repeated Houthi drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait since November 2023. American and British forces responded with attacks on Houthi facilities, but have not yet succeeded in stopping their attacks.

The crew members of the ship "Rubimar", which flies the flag of Belize, abandoned it after it was attacked last Sunday, and the crew members were rescued by another commercial ship.

LSS-SABU Maritime Security Company, which owns the ship, said that water had leaked onto the ship and that its operators were studying options. It was not possible to contact the company that owns the ship, which is registered in Britain, or the ship management company based in Lebanon.

A naval memorandum warned ships in the area to avoid the abandoned ship.

A US defense official said on Tuesday that the ship did not sink.

Two sources in the shipping and insurance sectors said that towing the ship to Djibouti appears to be the ideal course of action. “Djibouti is the only immediate option where some reforms or recovery will be feasible.”

Data from MarineTraffic, a ship tracking and maritime analytics website, showed that the ship last reported its location two days ago and that it was heading to the Bulgarian port of Varna.

Sources in the insurance sector said that they could not determine who insured the ship, which appears to be not included in the marine insurance market in London.

A spokesman for the port of Djibouti has not yet responded to a request for comment.

The Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority said in a statement issued on February 19 and published on the X platform that the authority had successfully completed the return of the 24 crew members of the Rubimar safely to their homes. They are 11 Syrians, six Egyptians, three Indians and four Filipinos. The ship was... The rescue has returned them to the Djibouti region.

The authority stated: “The ship had 21,999 metric tons of category 5.1 international maritime dangerous goods, that is, extremely dangerous,” adding that the ship’s transmitter had been turned off and that it did not know the ship’s coordinates.

Despite the attacks launched by the West in response to the Houthi attacks, none of the ships that were attacked have sunk so far, nor have any of their crew members been killed, but security concerns are increasing.

The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority said yesterday, Tuesday, that it had received reports of monitoring an explosion and flash in the southern Red Sea, 40 nautical miles west of the port of Hodeidah in northern Yemen. The port is located in an area controlled by the Houthis.

The authority added, “Reports were received about the safety of ships and crews in the vicinity of the explosion.” "Ships are advised to proceed with caution," she added.