Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk announced on Tuesday that it will continue to avoid Red Sea shipping lanes for the “foreseeable future” due to terrorist attacks by the Iran-sponsored Houthi insurgents of Yemen.
Maersk explained to its customers that the Red Sea crisis is more “complicated” than ever, risks to the safety of ships and crews remain intolerable, and the risk zone is actually expanding further offshore despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s promises to protect ships against Houthi drones and missiles.
Maersk said both costs and prices for shipping have increased considerably due to the Houthi attacks, which are also making deliveries slower because ships must detour far around the convenient Red Sea-Gulf of Aden-Suez Canal corridor. Struggling to keep up with demand after effectively losing 15 to 20 percent of its Far Eastern capacity has left Maersk…
