Maersk: Disruptions to Container Shipping via Red Sea Have Expanded

A container ship is seen in the Red Sea. EPA file photo
A container ship is seen in the Red Sea. EPA file photo
TT
20

Maersk: Disruptions to Container Shipping via Red Sea Have Expanded

A container ship is seen in the Red Sea. EPA file photo
A container ship is seen in the Red Sea. EPA file photo

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday that the disruptions to its container shipping via the Red Sea had extended beyond trade routes in far Eastern Europe to its entire ocean network.

"The cascading impact of these disruptions extends beyond the primary affected routes, causing congestion at alternative routes and transshipment hubs essential for trade with Far East Asia, West Central Asia, and Europe," Reuters quoted Maersk as saying in a statement.

Maersk and other shipping companies have diverted vessels around Africa's Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militias in the Red Sea, with the longer voyage times pushing freight rates higher.

Asian exports are more impacted by the situation than Asian imports, Maersk said, adding that this is primarily due to Asian countries being major global exporters.

Maersk said ocean cargo demand remains robust globally, with air freight, including a sea-air solution being used as an alternative where time-sensitive goods need to be moved quickly.



Floods in Eastern DR Congo Kill More Than 100

People in Kinshasa’s Pompage district after the Congo River overflowed. (AFP/Getty Images file)
People in Kinshasa’s Pompage district after the Congo River overflowed. (AFP/Getty Images file)
TT
20

Floods in Eastern DR Congo Kill More Than 100

People in Kinshasa’s Pompage district after the Congo River overflowed. (AFP/Getty Images file)
People in Kinshasa’s Pompage district after the Congo River overflowed. (AFP/Getty Images file)

Raging floods rushing through a village during the night killed more than 100 people, many of them children as they slept, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local officials told AFP on Saturday.

The floods were sparked by torrential rains and ripped through the Kasaba village in the Sud Kivu province during the night of Thursday-Friday, Bernard Akili, a regional official, told AFP.

Torrential rains caused the Kasaba river to burst its banks overnight, with the rushing waters "carrying everything in their path, large stones, large trees and mud, before razing the houses on the edge of the lake," he said.

"The victims who died are mainly children and elderly," he said, adding that 28 people were injured and some 150 homes were destroyed.

Sammy Kalonji, the regional administrator, said the torrent killed at least 104 people and caused "enormous material damage."

Another local resident told AFP that some 119 bodies had been found by Saturday.

The village, which sits on the Tanganyika lake and is only accessible by the lake, does not have internet service, a local humanitarian worker told AFP.

Such natural disasters are frequent in the DRC, particularly on the shores of the great lakes in the east of the country, with the surrounding hills weakened by deforestation.

In 2023, floods killed 400 people in several communities located on the shores of Lake Kivu, in South Kivu province.