Shipping firms avoid Red Sea as Houthi attacks increase

Shipping Companies

Shipping firms avoid Red Sea as Houthi attacks increase

Reuters December 19, 2023

Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have stepped up attacks on vessels in the Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza.

The attacks, targeting a route that allows East-West trade, especially of oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa, have pushed some shipping companies to reroute vessels.

Below are companies (in alphabetical order) that have decided to pause shipping via the Red Sea:

CMA CGM

French shipping group CMA CGM said on Dec. 18 it was rerouting some vessels via the Cape of Good Hope, and had instructed all its other container ships that were scheduled to pass through the Red Sea to reach safe areas and pause their journey until further notice.

EURONAV (EUAV.BR)

Belgian oil tanker firm Euronav said on Dec. 18 it would avoid the Red Sea area until further notice.

EVERGREEN (2603.TW)

Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen said on Dec. 18 its vessels on regional services to Red Sea ports would sail to safe waters nearby and wait for further notification, while ships scheduled to pass through the Red Sea would be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. It also temporarily stopped accepting Israeli cargo.

FRONTLINE (FRO.OL)

Norway-based oil tanker group Frontline said on Dec. 18 that its vessels would avoid passages through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, boosting the rates customers must pay for crude transport.

HAPAG-LLOYD (HLAG.DE)

German container shipping line Hapag Lloyd said on Dec. 18 it would reroute several ships via the Cape of Good Hope until the safety of passage through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea could be guaranteed.

A projectile believed to be a drone struck its vessel Al Jasrah on Dec. 15, while sailing close to the coast of Yemen. No crew were injured.

HMM (011200.KS)

South Korean container shipper HMM said on Dec. 19 it had from Dec. 15 ordered its ships from Europe that would normally use the Suez Canal to reroute via the Cape of Good Hope for an indefinite period of time.

MAERSK (MAERSKb.CO)

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk on Dec. 15 said it would pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, following a "near-miss incident" involving its vessel Maersk Gibraltar a day earlier.

On Dec. 19, Maersk said vessels that were due to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden would be re-routed around the Cape of Good Hope.

MSC

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said on Dec. 16 its ships would not transit through the Suez Canal, with some already rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope, a day after Houthi forces fired two ballistic missiles at its MSC Palatium III vessel.

OCEAN NETWORK EXPRESS

Ocean Network Express (ONE), a joint venture of Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (9104.T), Nippon Yusen (9101.T) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (9107.T), said on Dec. 19 it had decided to re-route vessels away from the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Instead, ONE will navigate its ships around the Cape of Good Hope or temporarily pause their journey and reposition them in safe areas.

OOCL

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) stopped cargo acceptance to and from Israel until further notice, the shipping company owned by Hong Kong-based Oriental Overseas (International) Ltd (0316.HK) said on Dec. 16.

WALLENIUS WILHELMSEN (WAWI.OL)

Norway's Wallenius Wilhelmsen said on Dec. 19 it would halt Red Sea transits until further notice. It said re-routing vessels via the Cape of Good Hope would add one to two weeks to voyage durations.

YANG MING MARINE TRANSPORT (2609.TW)

Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport said on Dec. 18 it would divert ships sailing through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden via the Cape of Good Hope for the next two weeks.

Compiled by Paolo Laudani, Izabela Niemiec and Jesus Calero in Gdansk; editing by Stephen Coates and Milla Nissi

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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