Container ship captains who make the run between Europe and Asia are about to become reacquainted with the Cape of Good Hope, making a long swing around Africa in a route that has been largely obsolete since the opening of the Suez Canal more than 150 years ago.
Since mid-November, Houthi rebels in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea, firing drones and missiles and, in some cases, boarding and seizing vessels. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, say the attacks are in solidarity with their Palestinian allies in Hamas. In response, most of the world’s largest container-shipping companies — including Denmark’s Maersk, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, and China’s Cosco — have stopped shipments through the Red Sea. The oil company BP is doing so as well. An estimated 7 million barrels of oil normally travel through the sea per day.
It’s an unexpected consequence of the two-month-old Israel-Hamas war, which is rapidly escalating into a wider conflict with both regional and global ripple effects.
“The impact is no longer on one country,” Noam Raydan, a Middle East shipping analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Vox. “Now, it is global.”
These reroutes will add thousands of miles and days of travel time to their journey, costing companies millions of dollars in extra fuel and other costs. While there are still ships braving the Red Sea, the tracking site VesselFinder shows that many have their transponders set to broadcast that they are carrying armed guards on board.
US, French, and British ships in the region have been shooting down dozens of Houthi drones, but Western governments have come under pressure to do more to protect global shipping. On Tuesday, the US announced the formation of a 10-country naval task force to protect shipping in the region. Biden administration officials are also reportedly considering operations for direct military strikes against the Houthis.
But…
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