Despite a Houthi pledge not to attack ships in the Red Sea as long as a ceasefire in Gaza holds, big shipping companies said they won’t send vessels back to the area, given the unpredictable situation in Gaza and tensions in the Middle East.
The day after a ceasefire was declared in Gaza, the Houthi militant group said they will only attack Israeli-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.
But, despite those pledges, “The world’s top three container shippers, MSC Mediterranean Shipping, A.P. Moller-Maersk and CMA CGM, in recent days said they would stick with other routes given what they called the unpredictable situation in Gaza and broader tensions in the Middle East,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.
Nils Haupt, spokesman for Germany's biggest shipper, Hapag-Lloyd, said, “You don't want to send a gas carrier that will go up in flames. We don't know when we will be returning.”
The Houthis declared their commitment to stop attacks in the Red Sea after a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. But they vowed to strike ships if Israel continues its military operations in the West Bank.
The Iranian-backed militants, who control swathes of Yemen, have used an array of sophisticated weapons - including ballistic missiles and drones - in their 14-month attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
Ships were forced to divert to routes around Africa’s southern Cape of Good Hope.
The Sanaa-based Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOOC) which liaises between Houthi forces and commercial shipping operators and is associated with the Houthi military, said it was stopping “sanction” against vessels owned by US or British individuals or entities, as well as ships sailing under their flags.
In an email sent to shipping industry officials dated Jan. 19, HOOC said, “We affirm that, in the event of any aggression against Yemen by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, or the usurping Israeli entity, the sanctions will be reinstated against the aggressor.”
Last week, Dubai-owned ports and logistics firm DP World expected ships not linked to Israel to begin returning to the Red Sea in as little as two weeks.
Sea freight prices could drop “at least 20%, 25%” and that could happen over two to three months, DP World's deputy chief executive Yuvraj Narayan told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting taking place in Davos, Switzerland.
Last Wednesday, Houthis released 25 crew members from the Galaxy Leader car carrier seized in November 2023.
