Shippers have been routing their vessels around Africa, adding thousands of miles and costs to voyages
AP MOLLER-MAERSK said that the conditions for it to resume transit through the southern Red Sea appear to be improving as the shipping giant plots an eventual return to a route that shaves thousands of miles off voyage times.
“Given the significant progress in both Gaza and Bab El-Mandeb, Maersk will take steps to resume navigation around the east-west corridor via the Suez Canal and Red Sea and, over time, normalise the transit time to transit on this route,” chief executive officer Vincent Clerc told reporters in Egypt on Tuesday (Nov 25).
He nevertheless gave the caveat that such efforts will proceed only once safety concerns for the company’s crews are allayed, reiterating a policy the Copenhagen-based firm has held since attacks on merchant vessels first escalated in the area in late 2023.
The comments highlight a growing sense of ease among major shippers about returning to the southern Red Sea after a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. If Maersk and others do resume, voyage durations will get shorter – speeding up deliveries but also effectively making more vessels available.
Yemen’s Houthi militants, which had been attacking ships in the waterway for nearly two years, signalled this month that they will stop their maritime offensive as long as the Israel-Hamas truce holds.
Shippers have been routing their vessels around Africa, adding thousands of miles and costs to voyages. Maersk, which controls about 14 per cent of the world’s container fleet, said earlier this month that it expected to avoid Red Sea transits for at least this year. The company has also said it will take some time to readjust schedules and resume transits after the threat of attacks stops.
The rerouting hit Egypt hard, resulting in a sharp drop in revenue from the Suez Canal. Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said on Tuesday that officials decided to further extend a 15 per cent tariff cut for some vessels transiting the corridor and that they would, in January, begin to study the market and discuss new incentive to lure back commercial shippers. BLOOMBERG
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