Shipping companies are diverting cargo from the Red Sea as Yemen's continued siege of Gaza intensifies attacks by Houthi rebels.
Attacks by the Houthi rebels, officially known as Ansar Allah, are now sparking conflicts in other parts of the Middle East, with U.S. diplomats moving to reassure allies and prevent a broader conflict. ing.
“If the Houthis continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free trade in the region's vital waterways, they will bear the responsibility for the consequences,” the US, Japan, UK, Germany and eight other countries said. said in a statement.Joint Wednesday's statement.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet, told reporters on Thursday that there had been 25 attacks on commercial ships sailing in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Nov. 18.
In December, the United States, along with the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain, launched naval operation Prosperity Guardian to protect commercial shipping from Houthi attacks.
Pentagon officials maintain near-constant contact with commercial vessels at sea using tactical communications networks, a senior defense official told The Hill on Thursday.
The United States also sank three small Houthi boats following an attack on a commercial ship on Sunday, prompting Iran to send the destroyer Alborz to the Red Sea the next day.
But the Houthis remained unyielding and vowed to continue their offensive in response to Israeli bombing of Gaza. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 22,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 57,000 injured during the siege.
The siege was sparked by an October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which killed more than 1,000 Israelis and took hundreds more hostage.
“Naval operations in Yemen are ethical and will continue until the crime of genocide in Gaza is stopped and food, medicine and fuel are allowed to flow to the population,” said Ansar Allah spokesman Mohammed al-Al. -Bukhaiti wrote on online platform X on Wednesday.
“In our joint statement, we recommend that the countries that threatened Yemen stop crimes in Palestine rather than protect the perpetrators, and address the causes of the problem rather than its effects,” he wrote.
Economic impact could be 'significant'
The economic fallout from the naval battle is growing as shipping giants divert cargo around Africa rather than through the Suez Canal, Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.
Freight costs have soared across various indexes, with the Shanghai Container Freight Index, one of the industry standards, reaching 1,759 points on Wednesday.
This is up from around 1,000 points recently, but still well below the five-year peak of more than 5,100 points reached during the pandemic-induced supply chain crisis in January 2022. .
Shippers are frustrated about the security situation and its impact on their businesses.
“[The] Red Sea Task Force [is] continues to prove inadequate,” Judah Levine, head of research at logistics platform Freightos, said on the company's blog on Wednesday.
“The Houthis continued their attacks last week, continuing into Saturday, and have targeted 23 commercial ships since mid-November, although some of the recently targeted vessels have no connection to Israeli ownership or trade. There is no obvious relationship.”
The main Suez Canal trade route between Europe and Asia accounted for 15% of global container trade in 2022, equivalent to 24.2 million 20-foot containers, according to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
The Red Sea route saves ships 10 days of transit, during which shippers pay additional fuel costs, crew wages, and other miscellaneous costs.
“This could mean higher commodity prices,” International Maritime Organization spokeswoman Natasha Brown said in an email to The Hill. “If more ships are diverted, there could be significant consequences.”
Shippers avoid the Red Sea at great expense
Current shipping company Maersk list Dozens of ships were diverted around the Cape of Good Hope following the December 30 Hangzhou disaster.
“The investigation into the incident is ongoing and we continue to suspend all cargo transport through the area while we further assess the ever-changing situation,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.
Shipper MSC confirmed on December 26 that its ship, MSC United VIII, had been attacked while sailing in the Red Sea, and said it had received instructions to take evasive action from a nearby coalition ship.
About 30 ships belonging to German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd have been forced to reroute since Dec. 18, spokesperson Nils Haupt told The Hill.
“[The total volume of affected shipments is] It's hard to say, but with 30 ships of very different sizes, you get an average of 12,000 ships. [twenty-foot equivalent units] “You can see that there are nearly 500,000 ships each, and that's just us,” he said.
The economic impact could be further exacerbated by the outbreak of a diplomatic crisis
Beyond the Red Sea, the conflict has repeatedly crossed the Israeli border into Lebanon. Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official, was killed on Tuesday in what appeared to be an Israeli attack in the country, prompting Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iranian-backed political group Hezbollah, to threaten to retaliate.
Israeli Interior Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also further stoked tensions on Tuesday, writing in X about “the migration of hundreds of thousands of people from Gaza.”
“This is a very dangerous moment. The possibility of war across the region is increasing by the day,” Trita Parsi, an expert and advocate on US-Iran relations, wrote online Wednesday. “As Israeli attacks continue, Iran's long-term strategy is increasingly under strain, with increasing voices within Iran claiming that the lack of a strong response undermines Iran's deterrence.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a trip to the Middle East on Thursday, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict threatens to further engulf the region.
The State Department said in a statement Thursday that he will engage in shuttle diplomacy with stops in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt.
“During his visit, the Secretary will emphasize the importance of protecting civilian lives in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Securing the release of all remaining hostages. “A shared commitment to continue and increase humanitarian assistance and facilitate the resumption of essential services to ensure that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced from Gaza,” the State Department said.
Brad Dress contributed to this article.
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