More shipping vessels are docking at the Kenyan port of Lamu amid Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz and concerns about a new escalation by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, Bloomberg reported on March 19. Many arrivals are linked to shippers leveraging the port's location on the maritime route through the Cape of Good Hope for transshipment, and Kenya's port of Mombasa is also witnessing growing traffic for similar reasons.

Lamu port has faced widespread criticism since its launch in 2021 for being a "white elephant" project that failed to attract shipping vessels. Only three of Lamu's 23 planned berths have been completed, while road and rail transport connecting Lamu to Kenya's core regions remains underdeveloped. This has partly been a product of al Shabaab maintaining a presence near the town and frequently targeting security forces and construction workers.