Two more major shipping firms, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM SA, on Saturday said that they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global trade after Yemeni rebel attacks.
The announcement by Italian-Swiss giant MSC and France’s CMA CGM follows a similar decision on Friday by two of the world’s largest shipping companies — AP Moller-Maersk A/S and Hapag-Lloyd AG.
The announcements were in response to a warning by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen, but are not recognized internationally.
Photo: AFP
The Houthis said they were targeting vessels near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait to pressure Israel over its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Thousands of ships every year transit through the strait, which runs between Yemen on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and the African continent.
The tensions have added to fears that the Gaza conflict could spread.
Ships belonging to Israel or heading to its ports “will remain vulnerable to targeting until the aggression stops, the siege on Gaza is lifted and humanitarian aid continues to flow” to Gaza, Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdul Salam said on X, formerly Twitter.
Oman was sponsoring discussions “with a number of international parties” regarding operations in the Red and Arabian seas, he added.
A US destroyer on Saturday shot down more than a dozen drones in the Red Sea launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the US’ Central Command said.
The British government said one of its destroyers had also brought down a suspected attack drone in the area.
MSC, one of the world’s largest freight shipping lines, said one of its container vessels had been targeted in the Red Sea on Friday and it was halting traffic through the strait until it was safe. Nobody on the MSC Palatium III was wounded, but the ship was damaged by fire, the company said.
CMA CGM said it ordered all its vessels to leave the area until further notice.
“The situation continues to deteriorate and there are increasing concerns about security,” it said.
On Friday, the International Chamber of Shipping condemned the Houthi attacks, which “threaten the lives of innocent seafarers and the safety of merchant shipping.”
The incidents breached international law and states in the region should work to de-escalate the situation, the group said.
Diverting Asia-bound shipping around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope would increase costs and delays, it said.
Consultancy S&P Global estimated that the detour would increase the distance between Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Singapore by 40 percent.
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