Several global shipping giants announced on Friday and Saturday that they were suspending the passage of their ships through the Red Sea, a major trade route, due to the danger. Around 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal each year, the entry and exit point for ships passing through the Red Sea.
The head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna, visiting Israel, declared on Sunday that the attacks in the Red Sea perpetrated by Yemen’s Houthi rebels “cannot remain unanswered.” “We are studying several “defensive” options with our partners” in particular to “prevent this from happening again,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs during a press briefing upon her arrival in Tel Aviv.
CMA CGM, maritime transport giant, will no longer use the Red Sea “until further notice”
Several global shipping giants announced on Friday and Saturday that they were suspending the passage of their ships through the Red Sea, a major trade route, due to the danger. The Danish Maersk, the German Hapag-Lloyd, the French CMA CGM and the Italian-Swiss MSC have announced that their ships will no longer use the Red Sea “until further notice”, at least until Monday or until passage “is safe”.
The Red Sea is a “sea highway” connecting the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and therefore Europe to Asia. Around 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal each year, the entry and exit point for ships passing through the Red Sea. In recent weeks, Yemeni rebels, close to Iran, have increased attacks near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa.
In response to the situation in Gaza
The Houthis have warned they will target ships sailing off the coast of Yemen with links to Israel, in response to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The rebels claimed responsibility for a missile strike in the Red Sea which hit a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker on Monday without causing any casualties. They claimed to have acted in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza where the Israeli army is at war against the Islamist movement Hamas.
For several days, missiles and drones have been shot down by American and French warships patrolling the area. Also on Saturday, the US military Middle East Command (Centcom) announced that a US destroyer operating in the Red Sea had shot down 14 drones launched from “areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis”.