Maersk diverts ships around Cape of Good Hope due to risk of Houthi attack

Citing safety, Danish container shipping giant Maersk said Tuesday it would re-route all Red Sea-bound vessels around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope — a 3,500-mile diversion. The move follows a spate of attacks on passing merchant shipping by Houthi rebels in Yemen, including a near missile miss on a Maersk containership. File photo by Jerry Lampen/EPA-EFE

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Danish container-shipping giant Maersk said Tuesday it would re-route all Red Sea-bound vessels around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope — a 3,500-mile diversion — to avoid attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The vessels, whose journeys were paused Friday on safety grounds after a “near-miss” incident involving a missile, would resume their voyages via the diverted routes “as soon as operationally feasible,” the world’s second-largest shipping company said in a news release.

Maersk, which as of Monday had about 20 vessels east of the Gulf of Aden, in the northern part of the Red Sea, or headed there from the Mediterranean, said the move was the quickest way to get cargo moving reliably again, providing assurance for clients’ supply chains.

Routing of future planned sailings through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden would be decided on a case-by-case basis, including diverting via the Cape of Good Hope or other contingency measures, with Maersk pledging to update affected customers on a vessel-by-vessel basis as early as feasible.

“We have faith that a solution enabling a return to using the Suez Canal and transiting through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden will be introduced in the near future, but at this time it remains difficult to determine exactly when this will be.

“As such, getting vessels moving via the Cape of Good Hope will ultimately be a faster and more predictable outcome for customers and their supply chains,” said Maersk.

The other four global container shipping giants — MSC, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM — are all already doing the same, or have paused sailing via the Red Sea, with analysts warning of higher freight rates from extra fuel costs and reduced supply as the extra time at sea strips capacity from the market.

Maersk’s decision came despite Tuesday’s launch by the United States of a multinational military initiative aimed at countering the escalating attacks by Houthi militants.

Unveiling the 10-country Operation Prosperity Guardian initiative, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said its goal was “ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering region security and prosperity” in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.