How Maersk Deals with Red Sea Shipping Disruption

 Maersk posted on 12 June 2024 an update titled "Navigating Challenges in the Red Sea and Beyond."

About 30 percent of global container traffic previously travelled through the Suez Canal and Red Sea.  Because of Houthi attacks on international shipping, Maersk, one of the largest users of this route, is now sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and avoiding the Suez Canal and Red Sea.  This has increased fuel costs by about 40 percent, caused delays and congestion in key ports such as Singapore and Shanghai, and has reduced industry wide shipping capacity by 15-20 percent.  

What Ships Are Houthis Not Attacking in the Red Sea?

 You Tube posted on 4 June 2024 a two-minute video titled "Danger in the Red Sea: Who Shall the Houthis Let Pass?" by Peter Zeihan.

The author identified three categories of ships that the Houthis try to avoid attacking:

--oil tankers because they usually sail from Arab countries or Iran and the Houthis depend on these countries for financial assistance;

--grain ships from the Black Sea because they usually have Russian connections and Moscow is a Houthi supporter; and

--Chinese-flagged container ships because China agreed to pay the Houthis protection money.