MSC has joining Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk in pausing shipping through the Suez canal Red Sea after attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants from Yemen.
The MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday while transiting the Red Sea, the shipping giant has said it will pause operations on the route and redirect some services via the Cape of Good Hope instead.
Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk had already announced the pausing of their services through the route. Maersk is said in a statement: "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. 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.
"Ensuring the safety of our employees is of the utmost importance and our number one priority in handling this challenging situation. We continue to closely monitor the situation retrieving all available intelligence on the security situation in the area. We are committed to ensuring the best possible stability of our customers’ supply chains, and we are working closely with all our logistics teams and are taking steps to minimise impacts to customers.
The company expects to share more information about any next steps for these paused vessels within the next few days.
An advisory from MSC told cnbc.com: “Due to this incident and to protect the lives and safety of our seafarers, until the Red Sea passage is safe, MSC ships will not transit the Suez Canal Eastbound and Westbound. Already now, some services will be rerouted to go via the Cape of Good Hope instead.”
MSC explained the new routing will impact the sailing schedules by several days for vessels booked for Suez transit. “We ask for your understanding under these serious circumstances,” the advisory continued.
Israel-based ocean carrier ZIM has re-routed vessels to avoid the Arabian and Red Seas to safeguard their vessels and crew amid the threats by the Houthis. The vessels are traveling around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. This alternative route to the Indian Ocean adds 10 to 14 days of travel time to a vessel’s journey. The long way around Africa also incurs higher fuel costs because of the longer travel distance.