Vessel traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait rose to 28 on Monday, a four-day high, but remained well below the July 14 peak of 46, keeping India exposed to higher freight, insurance and delivery costs as Houthi threats put Saudi Arabia’s alternative oil-export corridor at risk. Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline allows crude to bypass the constrained Strait of Hormuz and reach Yanbu on the Red Sea. But cargoes headed to India and other Asian markets must still cross Bab el-Mandeb, turning the waterway into a second choke point for supplies already travelling through an emergency route.