Container shipping diversions via Cape of Good Hope

[paul1609]

1) I believe we can land at airbases in the UAE to refuel and prepare, so it wouldn't necessarily mean such an intensive mission load.
2) The recent Houthi bombing raids didn't require a massive detachment of aircraft. The aim of such a mission would be periodic suppression, not total annihilation, so would not need your proposed 20 aircraft plus spares.
3) If what you say about the maritime recon aircraft is true, then we urgently need to expand the fleet.

Im afraid I dont think you have an understanding of the distances involved in the middle east, I remember having to tell a prominent politician that Dubai was 1700 nautical miles from the Bab-el-Mandeb straits by sea about a week in a patrol craft when he clearly thought we could pop over after lunch and be back for dinner!

 

[AlastairFraser]

Im afraid I dont think you have an understanding of the distances involved in the middle east, I remember having to tell a prominent politician that Dubai was 1700 nautical miles from the Bab-el-Mandeb straits by sea about a week in a patrol craft when he clearly thought we could pop over after lunch and be back for dinner!

Our nearest naval base is in neighbouring Oman. 1700 miles is not out of the range of our Typhoons

 

[Ken H]

The Panama Canal has had restricted capacity due to lack of rainfall. But that is slowly recovering. So maybe some respite there. But how big a ship can use the Panama canal?

 

[Chester1]

Our nearest naval base is in neighbouring Oman. 1700 miles is not out of the range of our Typhoons

Or we could leave this mess to the US to sort out! China has a huge incentive to rein in Iran too. Its not in China's interests to have a huge increase in cost of transporting Chinese goods to Europe.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Or we could leave this mess to the US to sort out! China has a huge incentive to rein in Iran too. Its not in China's interests to have a huge increase in cost of transporting Chinese goods to Europe.

The US and sort out mess in the same sentence doesn't sound likely.
Agreed on the Chinese front though - as someone else pointed out, the Egyptians will also be losing a lot of Suez Canal fees that they desperately need to cope with the increased prices of grain for their booming population (they've shot up post Russian invasion of Ukraine).