Shipping Firms to Avoid Suez Canal as Red Sea Attacks Increase

The "CMA CGM Palais Royal", the world's largest container's ship powered by natural gas, sails in the bay of Marseille, southern France, on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
The "CMA CGM Palais Royal", the world's largest container's ship powered by natural gas, sails in the bay of Marseille, southern France, on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
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Shipping Firms to Avoid Suez Canal as Red Sea Attacks Increase

The "CMA CGM Palais Royal", the world's largest container's ship powered by natural gas, sails in the bay of Marseille, southern France, on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
The "CMA CGM Palais Royal", the world's largest container's ship powered by natural gas, sails in the bay of Marseille, southern France, on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)

Two major freight firms including MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co, the world's biggest container shipping line, on Saturday said they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militias in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking vessels in response to the Gaza war on a route that allows East-West trade, and especially oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa. War risk insurance premiums have risen as a result.
The Liberian-flagged MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday with a drone in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to the Houthis.
No injuries were reported, but the vessel suffered some fire damage and was taken out of service, MSC said in a statement. Another Liberian-flagged vessel, Hapag Lloyd's Al Jasrah, was hit by a missile, the US military said.
Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk on Friday paused all its container shipments through Bab al-Mandab until further notice, and it was joined on Saturday by the Swiss-based MSC and the French shipping group CMA CGM.
"The situation is further deteriorating and concern for safety is increasing," CMA CGM said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The German container line Hapag Lloyd had said it might do the same.

The Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on shipping and fired drones and missiles towards Israel.
US Central Command said the guided-missile destroyer Carney had shot down 14 drones launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea on Saturday morning.
In a statement, it said they were assessed to be one-way attack drones and had been shot down with no damage to ships.
Britain also said one of its warships had shot down a suspected attack drone targeting merchant shipping.



Dollar Hobbled by Economic Worries; Euro Remains in Favor

US dollar drifted within a tight range on Monday, pressured by lower Treasury yields - Reuters
US dollar drifted within a tight range on Monday, pressured by lower Treasury yields - Reuters
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Dollar Hobbled by Economic Worries; Euro Remains in Favor

US dollar drifted within a tight range on Monday, pressured by lower Treasury yields - Reuters
US dollar drifted within a tight range on Monday, pressured by lower Treasury yields - Reuters

The dollar hovered near a five-month low against major peers on Monday, bruised by President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies and soft economic data, at a time when other currencies, including the euro, benefit from domestic drivers.

The euro was last at $1.0905, up 0.2% on the day, and heading back towards the $1.0947 it hit last week, its highest since October 11.

The Japanese yen was also marginally stronger on the day at 148.48 per dollar, again after hitting its strongest in five months last week at 146.5 to the dollar.

That left the dollar index, which measures the US currency against its six major counterparts, at 103.5, just off its five-month trough of 103.21 reached last Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Currency markets have undergone a shift in recent months, as traders re-evaluate their initial expectations that Trump's economic policies would both support the dollar and cause other currencies to weaken.

In fact the reverse has happened, and analysts at Societe Generale said on Monday that they had changed their currency forecasts "to reflect Germany's planned fiscal changes, the US economy's self-inflicted (relative) fragility, and Japan’s escape from deflation".

They see the euro at $1.13 by year-end and the yen at 139 per dollar.