Galaxy Leader

Galaxy Leader is a roll-on/roll-off vehicle carrier built in 2002 at Stocznia Gdynia in Gdynia, Poland. It is owned by Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen and Ray Shipping, the latter a company partly owned by Israeli businessman Abraham Ungar.

In November 2023, the ship was hijacked by Houthis, who seized the ship and took its 25 crew members hostage.

Technical specifications
The vehicle carrier is powered by a Sulzer 7-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine of type 7RTA-62U with a power of 15540 kW. The engine drives a propeller. Three generators, powered by two MAN diesel engines of type 7L28/32H and one MAN diesel engine of type 6L28/32H, are available for power generation. Additionally, there is an emergency generator driven by another diesel engine of type MAN D 2866. The ship is equipped with an electrically driven bow thruster. Galaxy Leader has two loading ramps. The stern ramp has a capacity of 120 tons. The second ramp with lower capacity is located midships on the starboard side. The ship has six decks, interconnected by ramps. The vehicle capacity is approximately 4,500 Car Equivalent Units.

Construction and career
The ship, assigned yard number 8213/1, was constructed at the Stocznia Gdynia shipyard in Gdynia, Poland, in 2002. Keel laying took place on November 5, 2001, and the launch occurred on May 18, 2002. The ship was completed on June 26, 2002. It is one of two identical ships; the sister ship is the Global Leader. Both ships are managed by STAMCO Shipmanagement in Piraeus, Greece.

Hijacking in 2023
On November 19, 2023, Galaxy Leader was in ballast on a journey from Körfez, Turkey to Pipavav, India, when it was hijacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea near the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. The ship's registered owner is Galaxy Maritime Ltd., a company registered in the Isle of Man, and its flag state is the Bahamas; at the time of its seizure, the ship was chartered by the Japanese shipping company Nippon Yūsen K.K. Galaxy Maritime Ltd. is owned by Ray Car Carriers, co-owned by Israeli businessman Abraham Ungar.

At least ten armed Houthi hijackers used a military helicopter to board the vessel. After seizing the vessel, they brought it to Hodeida. Onboard Galaxy Leader were 25 crew members, including 17 from the Philippines; other crew members came from Bulgaria (including the captain and first mate), Ukraine, Mexico, and Romania. The maritime risk management firm Ambrey also described the hijacking as sophisticated and bearing the hallmarks of an Iranian-style operation. The Houthis videorecorded their attack and released the footage the next day, using the attack as propaganda.

An American defense official told the Associated Press in November 2023 that hijackers appeared to have been trained by a professional military, possibly Iran's. The Iranian government supports the Houthis, and the U.S. government said in December 2023 that the Iranian operational and intelligence assistance facilitated the Houthis' attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The Iranian government denied involvement.

The hijacking of Galaxy Leader, as well as a spate of Houthi drone and missile attacks on merchant shipping in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait passing into the Red Sea, threatened global shipping routes. This prompted the creation, in December 2023, of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multilateral operation of ten nations to protect shipping in the area. The effort, which is under the auspices of the Combined Task Force 153, is led by the United States Navy, with the participation of the Royal Navy, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.

In May 2024, the owners asked the Houthi rebels to release the vehicle and the crew.

Crew hostages
The Houthis kept the 25 crew members hostage. The hostages consisted of 17 Filipinos, two Bulgarians, three Ukrainians, two Mexicans, and one Romanian.

The Houthis turned the ship into a tourist attraction. After the ship was seized and brought to Hodeidah, Yemeni visitors were brought (via motor boat) to Galaxy Leader for tours; some took selfies as rifle-toting Yemenis patrolled the deck, and Yemeni social media influencers danced on board the ship. Pro-Hamas graffiti was also scrawled on the ship. The vessel was also used to shoot a propaganda video of a Nasheed written by Houthi Issa Al-Leith.

The whereabouts of the hostages are not publicly known. Galaxy Maritime called for the release of its 25 crew members, saying that they "have no connection whatsoever" to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, and that "Nothing can be achieved by their further detention." The ship owner also said that the crew members had been allowed "modest contact" with their families and were being treated "as well as can be expected in the circumstances". At an assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United States, the Bahamas, and Japan condemned the hijacking of Galaxy Leader as well as other Houthi acts that threatened freedom of navigation. The countries called for the unconditional release of the vessel's captain and crew. The U.S. Department of State said that the seizure was "a flagrant violation of international law".

On 22 January 2024, IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez gave an opening address to the 10th Session of the IMO Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Construction (SDC), repeating his calls for the immediate release of Galaxy Leader and its crew. Satellite imagery revealed that, in late February or early March 2024, the ship was brought closer to the Hodeidah, being moved from 2 km offshore to about 500 m from the port. By March 2024, the crew had been held hostage for more than a hundred days; the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said there was no indication that the Houthis planned to release the crew. A Houthi spokesman, Nasr Al-Din Amer, claimed that the Houthis had "no claims of our own regarding this vessel" and that they had turned over the ship and hostages to Hamas and its Al-Qassam Brigades. A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing family photos and letters, visited Galaxy Leader's crew for the first time on 12 May, in Hodeidah Governorate, western Yemen. Saba news agency reported that the team reviewed the condition of the ship’s crew, "who confirmed to the media that they are in good condition and receiving humane treatment in accordance with the teachings and values of the Islamic religion", and that they had been allowed to communicate with their families via video link.