Some ships are planned to return to the Red Sea for less than a week, and global shipping giant Maersk has announced another 48 hour suspension.
On December 31st, a reporter from The Paper learned from Maersk that the company confirmed that the "Maersk Hangzhou" ship was attacked while passing through the Strait of Mand from Singapore to Suez Port in Egypt. "At present, the safety of the ship's crew is the top priority of the company, and we have taken all necessary safety measures to protect the crew. The crew will receive all the support needed to cope with this difficult and serious situation."
According to Maersk, the "Maersk Hangzhou" vessel is flying the Singapore flag and deployed on the Maersk Asia Europe route AE12, with a designed capacity of 14000 TEUs. At around 6:30 pm Central European Time on December 30th, when the ship was located 55 nautical miles southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, it was hit by an unknown object, but there were no signs of a fire on board. The ship was able to continue sailing north. After the initial attack on the vessel, four ships approached the Maersk Hangzhou vessel and opened fire, attempting to board. A naval vessel in the nearby waters deployed a helicopter to cooperate with its security team and successfully repelled the attempt to board the ship.
"In view of this incident and to allow time for investigation into the details of the incident and further assessment of the security situation, Maersk has decided to suspend navigation through the area for the next 48 hours. Maersk told The Paper that efforts are currently being made to investigate the entire situation of the incident and engage in close dialogue with the" Operation Guardians of Prosperity "(OPG) and relevant authorities to assess the security level in the area.".
It is worth noting that Maersk plans to resume the Red Sea route in less than a week.
On December 25th, Pengpai News learned from Maersk that as of December 24th, Maersk has received confirmation that with the implementation of the "Prosperity Guardian Action" initiative, Maersk is preparing to resume the east-west (Asia Europe) route through the Red Sea and is developing plans for the first batch of ships to pass as soon as possible under feasible operation. Maersk previously mentioned that although safety measures are in place to ensure ships can pass through the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden, the overall risk in the region has not been eliminated at this stage. If the safety of the crew is threatened, Maersk will not hesitate to reassess the situation and initiate a detour plan again.
Prior to this, for safety reasons, Maersk first announced a suspension of navigation in the Red Sea, and then planned to allow all ships suspended and passing through the Red Sea area to detour through Africa via the Cape of Good Hope.
According to a previous report by Xinhua News Agency, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on December 19 during his visit to Bahrain the formation of an alliance and the execution of an escort operation codenamed "Prosperity Guardian" to respond to frequent attacks by Yemeni Houthi armed forces on merchant ships in the Red Sea waters. Since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian Israeli conflict on October 7th, the Hussai armed forces have frequently launched missile and drone attacks on Israel under the pretext of supporting Palestine, and have continuously attacked ships associated with Israel in the Red Sea waters. To avoid risks, multiple international shipping companies have made decisions to suspend or detour their routes.
The Suez Canal - Red Sea, an international shipping hub, is the throat of Asia leading to the Mediterranean and Europe. Usually, the Asia Europe route, especially the European route, mainly runs through the Red Sea channel, which is the main channel for Asia Europe maritime trade.
The recent instability in the Red Sea region has also continued to drive up freight rates.
On December 29th, the Shanghai Shipping Exchange released a report stating that this week (the week from December 25th to December 29th, the same below), China's export container transportation market continued to be tested by geopolitical risks, and freight rates on routes such as Asia Europe continued to rise significantly, driving the composite index up significantly. The tension in the Red Sea region is still ongoing on European routes. At present, there are significant differences in the shipping market, and commercial shipping from the Red Sea to the Suez Canal will face great uncertainty in the near future due to geopolitical tensions.
In terms of freight rates, the above report shows that the market freight rates continued to rise significantly this week. On the North American route, transportation demand remained stable, and the supply and demand fundamentals remained stable. Driven by the rise in freight rates on other routes, spot market booking prices continued to rise this week. The Persian Gulf route has shown good transportation demand and stable supply and demand fundamentals. The market for this route continues to be affected by the tense situation in the Red Sea region, and the market freight rates continue to rise significantly. The Australian New Zealand route has seen an overall stable demand for various materials in the local area recently, and the supply-demand relationship continues to improve. This week, spot market booking prices continue to rise. On the South American route, the overall transportation demand is stable, and the supply and demand relationship remains balanced. This week, the market freight rates continue to rise.