And even fewer can tell you where the Bab el-Mandeb strait is located—or why its fate affects them. So why does it matter?

Ships traveling north in the ... 26 kilometers wide, Bab-el-Mandeb straits off southwestern Yemen and force ships to take the longer and more expensive and time-consuming 6,000 kilometers route around ...

In an analysis posted on its website earlier this month, Dryad Global said maritime traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait ... costs due to rerouting around Africa via the Cape of Good ...