Despite the creation of an international maritime force under the aegis of the United States, the situation is far from having returned to normal in the Red Sea. Ships heading to the southern entrance to the Suez Canal remain under threat from Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Latest target: The Taguscontainer ship of the French shipowner CMA CGM, targeted by an attack by the Shiite movement supported by Iran.
“Naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an operation targeting the CMA CGM ship Tagus which was heading towards the ports of occupied Palestine”the rebels said on Wednesday, January 3, in a statement published on the social network the specialized site VesselFinder.
This attack is in addition to the missile strike on which the container ship Maersk-Hangzhou, from the Danish giant AP Moller-Maersk, was a victim on Sunday December 31, before being threatened with boarding by four Yemeni vessels. Three of them were sunk by ships of the Ve American fleet cruising in the area, according to the US Navy.
Maersk announced on Tuesday its decision to “halt all transits through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden until further notice”. Other owners of container ships, oil tankers, LNG carriers or bulk carriers still prefer to avoid the region and bypass Africa via the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Mediterranean and Europe, extending by 6,000 kilometers and more. ‘one week journey from China to Rotterdam (Netherlands). They increase labor and especially fuel costs, which are passed on to customers.
Ensuring cargo security
The Italian-Swiss MSC opened the ball of freight rate increases on 1er January. From January 15, CMA CGM will significantly increase them – and even double them – on its lines from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, it is indicated on its website. internet: they will rise to more than $3,000 for 20-foot equivalent containers and more than $6,000 for 40-foot containers. In response to rising tensions in the Middle East, certain tariffs had already been raised in November, as had the “toll” on the Suez Canal, one of Egypt’s main financial resources with 8.6 billion euros in 2022.
At the end of December, Maersk and CMA CGM, the world’s number two and three in the transport of “boxes”, had nevertheless reopened the lines passing through the Egyptian isthmus, suspended in mid-December by most container ship companies. The Danish shipowner nevertheless judged that “the overall risk in the area has not been eliminated at this stage”. The German Hapag-Lloyd considered it wiser to avoid the Red Sea. And the French group said it was ready to permanently modify its routes to ensure the safety of cargo.
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