Maersk suspends container voyages through Bab al-Mandab strait due to attacks

A.P. Moller-Maersk, one of the world's largest shipping lines by container capacity, has suspended all container shipment voyages via the Bab al-Mandab strait due to a spate of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants in Yemen.

Maersk, the world's second-largest container shipper behind MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, moves more than one million containers every month on a fleet of around 740 ships transporting to 121 countries, according to the company. Maersk's share of the global container shipping market is of around 15%.

"We are deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers," Maersk said in a statement.

 "Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice."

The move comes following the latest attacks Dec 15 on Red Sea shipping by the militant group in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

The Bab al-Mandab strait is a 20-mile-wide waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea and the western end of the Gulf of Aden. It is a key transit point through which oil tankers and other ships move between the Persian Gulf/Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal, the SUMED pipeline, and the Bab al-Mandeb are also strategic routes for Persian Gulf oil and natural gas shipments to Europe and North America.

Total oil shipments via these routes accounted for about 12% of total seaborne-traded oil in the first half of 2023, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments accounted for about 8% of worldwide LNG trade, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Other ocean carriers are also avoiding the area, among them THE Alliance carriers Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express (ONE) who said vessels operating some of the Mediterranean-Asia MD1 and MD3 services would be diverted via the Cape of Good Hope around southern Africa.