One of the world’s biggest shipping companies has announced it is halting all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice.
Key points:
- A Maersk ship was targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels
- German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd container is also considering pausing Red Sea traffic
- The Houthis say their attacks on commercial vessels are to support the Palestinians
It follows a series of attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who claim they’re targetting ships travelling to Israel.
Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk will pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Friday.
“Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice,” the company said in a statement.
Maersk on Thursday said its vessel Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
Earlier on Friday, Maersk denied a claim by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia had struck a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
“The vessel was not hit,” a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.
The Houthis had claimed they carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone.
The Houthis, who made the claim in a statement, did not release any evidence.
Maersk said the company was deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
“The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers,” it wrote in the statement.
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd container shipping line is examining whether to pause sailings through the Red Sea, a spokesperson said on Friday, hours after reporting one of its ships was attacked near Yemen.
The Houthis have been targeting vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait in attacks that the group says aim to support the Palestinians in the Israel-Gaza war.
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Reuters