Guillermo Ximenis
Madrid, Dec 18 (EFE). – Attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea have prompted some of the world’s largest shipping companies to suspend operations in the area, disrupting the global supply chain and threatening to affect oil and gas importing countries.
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest cargo carrier by capacity, has temporarily banned its ships from the maritime corridor linking Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal, a move echoed on Monday by BP and the Chinese shipping companies COSCO, OOCL and Evergreen Marine.
Recent drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels are pushing companies to seek alternative routes, mainly through South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, a journey that can take up to ten days from the Persian Gulf ports to Europe and even longer from Asian ports.
’s CMA, Denmark’s Maersk and ’s Hapag-Lloyd, among others, have also abandoned the Red Sea route as attacks have intensified in recent days.
On Monday, the British navy warned of two new incidents off the coast of Yemen, while Norwegian chemical tanker Iventro reported an attack on one of its ships.
Crucial trade route
About 12% of the world’s crude oil supply and 8% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported by sea through the Red Sea, so the interruption of the age of ships represents a disruption for energy-importing countries.
Spain, for example, imported about 5% of its gas from Qatar last year, as Gonzalo Escribano, director of the Energy and Climate Change Program at the Elcano Institute, explained to EFE.
The situation also worries the rest of European countries, which in recent years have made efforts to replace Russia with other gas suppliers, and also revives fears of a global trade crisis.
“If nothing is done to secure the (Red Sea) route against Houthi disruptions, we could see a spike in costs that could weigh on the global recovery in 2024,” Michael Hewson, an analyst at the consulting firm CMC Markets, told EFE.
Maritime freight rates (the cost of transporting goods) have already risen between 30% and 40% as a result of the problems in the Red Sea, points out Escribano, who emphasizes that some shipping companies may already have problems finding ships capable of taking the long route around Africa.
Geopolitical conflict
Experts highlight the differences between the current crisis and the obstruction of the Suez Canal in 2021, when the container ship Ever Given blocked the age for several days.
Escribano affirms that the “logistical stress” is not the same because, despite the security problems, navigation is not completely closed and powers such as China, the United States or the United Kingdom can use “deterrence and surveillance” strategies to try to minimize security threats.
However, the Foreign Policy Research Institute think tank believes that “the attacks are unlikely to stop” in the short term and that “they could even escalate further as Israel’s campaign (on Gaza) continues.”
Nicholas Brumfield, a researcher at the American Center, claims in a report that the intensification of the Houthi campaign of aggression is a response to the Israeli attacks on the Strip and adds that Yemeni rebels, unlike Hezbollah and Iran, may be interested in a regional expansion of the conflict. EFE
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