An increasing disruption to container traffic in the Red Sea was expected to reduce the industry’s capacity between the Far East and Europe by around 15-20% in the second quarter, shipping giant Maersk reported on Monday.
The risk zone has expanded, and attacks are reaching further offshore. This has forced our vessels to lengthen their journey further, resulting in additional time and costs to get your cargo to its destination for the time being.
Maersk and other shipping companies have been steering ships around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, with longer voyages pushing up freight rates.
The Danish company announced last week that shipping disruptions caused by attacks in the Red Sea were expected to last at least until the end of the year. The effects included bottlenecks, simultaneous crowding of ships in port as well as equipment and capacity shortages.
Maersk reported that it had leased more than 125,000 additional containers to address the crisis.
We are doing what we can to boost reliability, including sailing faster and adding capacity. We have added capacity, where possible, in line with our customers’ needs.
