Denmark’s Maersk Redirects Ships to Avoid Red Sea Attacks
COPENHAGEN—Maersk, the Danish shipping company, announced on Thursday that it has rerouted four out of five container vessels that were stuck in the Red Sea back towards the Suez Canal. This decision was made to avoid the risk of attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels, who have recently targeted several vessels in the southern Red Sea, including a Maersk ship. These attacks have disrupted global trade and raised concerns about potential inflation due to soaring shipping rates.
Despite the multinational operation launched by the United States on December 19 to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea, many shipping companies and cargo owners are still choosing to divert their vessels around Africa. Maersk, which had briefly attempted to restart Red Sea voyages last week, has now decided that its container ships will once again avoid the route through the Suez Canal.
However, five Maersk ships that were already heading towards Asia had already traversed the canal from the north and were about to pass Yemen when the pause was announced. As a result, these ships, along with their crews and tens of thousands of containers, were left in limbo. To resolve this issue, 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, were rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope.
It is worth noting that a fifth vessel, Maersk Utah, which was also stuck in the area, has not yet been rerouted but will not sail past Yemen. Rerouting the ships through the Suez Canal would incur additional fees and cause significant delays and extra fuel costs for the journey around the Cape of Good Hope.
Maersk had previously implemented a transit disruption surcharge (TDS) and a peak season surcharge (PSS), adding a total of $700 to the cost of a standard 20-foot container traveling from China to Northern Europe. The Suez Canal is a crucial route for approximately one-third of global container ship cargo, and redirecting ships around the southern tip of Africa is expected to result in up to $1 million in extra fuel costs for each round trip between Asia and Northern Europe.
