Two of the world’s largest shipping firms, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, said Friday they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global commerce, after Houthi rebel attacks in the area.
German transport company Hapag-Lloyd said it was halting Red Sea container ship traffic until December 18, after the Houthis attacked one of its vessels.
“Hapag-Lloyd is interrupting all container ship traffic across the Red Sea until Monday,” the company said in a statement sent to AFP.
The Danish firm Maersk made a similar announcement, a little earlier.
“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,” it said.
Maersk said this followed a “near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday” as well as Friday’s attack, in which the Houthi rebels struck a Hapag-Lloyd cargo ship in the Red Sea.
A US defense official identified it as the Liberia-flagged Al-Jasrah, a 368-meter (1,207-foot) container ship built in 2016.
“We are aware that something launched from a Houthi rebels-controlled areas of Yemen struck this vessel which was damaged, and there was a report of a fire,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity so that he could discuss intelligence matters.
The US Central Command in the Middle East (CENTCOM) confirmed on X, formerly Twitter, that “a UAV” l struck the Al-Jasrah causing a fire that was successfully extinguished.
A Hapag-Lloyd spokesman told AFP: “There has been an attack on one of our ships.”
It was en route from the Greek port of Piraeus to Singapore. There were no casualties and the ship was traveling onward to its destination, he added.
The attack on the Al-Jasrah occurred near Bab Al-Mandab, the narrow strait between Yemen and northeast Africa through which around 20,000 ships pass annually.
The area leads to the Red Sea, Israel’s southern port facilities and the Suez Canal, making it part of a strategic route for Gulf oil and natural gas shipments.
The Houthis have declared themselves part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-affiliated groups.
Western warships are patrolling the area and have shot down Houthi missiles and drones several times