Maersk, one of the largest global shipping companies, has announced that it has decided to continue rerouting its vessels around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future in order to protect cargos, since the situation in the Red Sea has been escalating and it is facing challenges in its operations.
The company stated that the risk zone has expanded, which has led them to further extend vessels’ journey, resulting in additional costs. These issues have also resulted in port bottlenecks, vessel piling, shipment delays, and equipment and capacity shortages. By taking these into consideration, Maersk estimates that the capacity of the shipping industry will decrease by 15-20 percent from the Far East to northern Europe and the Mediterranean during the second quarter of this year.
Maersk had paused all its Red Sea sailings on December 31 for 48 hours, following the attempts of the Yemen-based Houthis to board its Maersk Hangzhou vessel, as SteelOrbis reported earlier.