Denmark’s Maersk said on Thursday (Jan 4) it has rerouted four out of five container vessels that were stuck in the Red Sea back towards the Suez Canal and the long journey around Africa to avoid the risk of attack.
Yemen-based Houthi militants recently attacked a number of vessels in the southern Red Sea, including a Maersk ship on Saturday, disrupting global trade and raising fears of a fresh bout of global inflation as shipping rates soared.
The United States on Dec 19 launched a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea, but many shipping companies and cargo owners are still diverting vessels around Africa.
Maersk, which had last week briefly sought to restart Red Sea voyages after a pause, said on Tuesday its container ships would again avoid the route that gives access to the Suez Canal, a shortcut between Asia and Europe.
But five Maersk ships headed towards Asia had already traversed the canal from the north and were poised to travel south past Yemen when the pause was announced, leaving the crews and tens of thousands of containers in limbo.
The Maersk Genoa, Maersk Londrina, Ebba Maersk and Gjertrud Maersk container vessels, which had been sitting in the Red Sea just south of Saudi Arabia’s port of Jeddah in recent days, were on Thursday rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope, a Maersk schedule showed.
A fifth vessel, Maersk Utah, that had also been stuck in the area, had not yet been rerouted, but a Maersk spokesperson said it would not sail past Yemen.
Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/red-sea-route-maersk-shipping-disruption-houthis-4025981
