The prospect of a ceasefire has also sent Maersk’s shares down to their lowest level since June.
Maersk will consider resuming transport through the Red Sea where attacks on merchant ships since the end of 2023 have forced container shipping companies, among others, to reroute south of Africa.
“We will consider resuming transport through the Red Sea once a long-term and sustainable security solution has been established,” Maersk told Reuters in the wake of the latest news about a peace plan for Gaza.
On Thursday, Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza, orchestrated by US President Donald Trump.
This gives hope that Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi forces may stop their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. However, the Houthis have not yet commented on the ceasefire agreement or signaled any change in policy.
“There is a clear link between the security risk in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the conflict in Gaza, but it is too early to assess how progress in Gaza will affect the situation in the Red Sea,” Maersk says, according to Reuters.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and forms the entrance to the Suez Canal from where ships can take a shortcut to the Mediterranean.
The Houthi movement recently told ShippingWatch that it will only stop its attacks in the Red Sea once the war in Gaza is over.
It states that the group’s “military operations,” which are in response to Israel’s “gruesome massacres” and “unjust siege,” are directly linked to developments in Gaza.
“Therefore, the cessation of these supportive military operations is conditional on a complete and actual cessation of the aggression against Gaza,” the movement’s communications unit HOCC said in a written response to ShippingWatch.
Details please refer to the ShippingWatch news.
Source: SHIPPINGWATCH