Maritime trade may be on its way to returning to normal. Ships from the CMA-CGM shipowner have returned to the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and those from Maersk will do the same, the two shipping giants said on Wednesday.
“Certain ships have transited through the Red Sea” and “we plan to gradually increase the transit of our ships through the Suez Canal” – which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea – indicated the French group CMA-CGM in a message to its customers, transmitted to AFP.
For its part, Maersk is also preparing to “resume navigation in the Red Sea towards the east as well as towards the west”, indicated the Danish carrier on Sunday in a press release, and the first cargo ships will use the canal “as quickly as possible “.
20,000 ships per year
Several giants of global maritime transport announced in mid-December that they would suspend the passage of their ships through the Red Sea, a “highway of the sea” for maritime trade, linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, and therefore Europe to Asia. Around 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal each year, the entry and exit point for ships passing through the Red Sea.
The cause of this suspension: repeated attacks in recent weeks by the Houthi rebels of Yemen, allies of Iran, particularly near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait which separates the Arabian peninsula from Africa. The Houthis, who say they stand in solidarity with Palestinian Hamas in its war against Israel in the Gaza Strip, have warned they will target ships sailing off the coast of Yemen with ties to Israel, although the targets have become much more random in recent weeks.
“The overall risk in the area has not been eliminated at this stage”
These attacks, which threaten to disrupt the flow of global maritime trade, have even pushed many ships to take the Cape of Good Hope, in the very south of Africa, embarking on a bypass that makes the journey longer and more expensive. A problem important enough for the United States to decide to set up a multinational maritime protection force in the Red Sea. Again this Tuesday, the American army announced that it had intercepted numerous drones and missiles fired by the Houthis in the southern Red Sea.
This operation, called “Prosperity Guardian”, is “good news for the entire sector”, allowing traffic to resume, Maersk stressed. However, “the overall risk in the area has not been eliminated at this stage,” specifies the Danish giant. “We are constantly monitoring the situation and we stand ready to re-evaluate and adjust our plans if necessary,” CMA-CGM stressed for its part.