"In 2024, the number of vessels [transiting the Suez Canal] dropped by 50%, and tonnage dropped by 66%, while USD revenue dropped by 61%," says managing director of the Suez Canal authority, Osama Rabie, in a presser in Egypt's Ismailia. The vital Red Sea route, connecting to the Suez Canal, normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, but attacks carried out by Yemen's Huthi rebels forced many companies to make a long detour around the tip of southern Africa. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES