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Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk
MAERSK.A,
MAERSK.B,
will pause all its container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice and send them on a detour around Africa, following an attack on one of its vessels and rising risks to the merchant fleet in the area posed by Houthi militants, Reuters and Bloomberg reported on Friday.
“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 company said in a statement.
Maersk on Thursday said its vessel Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
See also:Projectile from rebel-held Yemen sets Liberian-flagged cargo ship ablaze, official says
Earlier on Friday Maersk denied a claim by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia had struck a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
The Houthis had claimed they carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone.
Maersk said the company was deeply concerned about the security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Also read: How are Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea affecting global trade?
Houthi militants have been attacking merchant shipping in the Red Sea, especially vessels that they say are connected to Israel, in response to the war in Gaza. Bab al-Mandab is a narrow stretch of water that links the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and, ultimately, to Egypt’s Suez Canal further north.
“The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers,” it wrote in the statement.
