Maersk “Not Yet” for Return to Red Sea Routing; too soon to go back to the Red Sea

Three months after starting to divert all its vessels from a passage through the Red Sea, Maersk told customers today, 22 Mar, that it is too soon in its assessment to resume its normal routes. They said the routing around Africa allows the best supply chain stability, in their assessment, saying that a switch is complex and they wanted to make sure it would be sustained over the long term and avoid further disruption.

They write that they are aware that Operation Aspides has taken shape and welcome it as a positive development along with the U.S.-led efforts. Maersk writes that they are also in “continuous dialogue” and monitoring developments in the region.

“Regretfully, both our internal analysis, as well as insight we received from external sources, still indicates that the risk level in the region remains elevated,” they wrote in their latest customer alert.

Maersk vessels were targeted by the Houthi on two different occasions in December leading the carrier to first suspend, then resume, and then suspend again transits through the region around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Maersk Gibraltar had a near-miss incident on December 14 leading to the first pause. After getting security assurances after the U.S.-led effort began, at the end of December Maersk said it was updating voyage plans on a vessel-by-vessel basis, which would see the first vessels pass through the Red Sea again.

A day after they informed customers that they were resuming some transits, the Maersk Hangzhou on December 30 was hit by an unknown object. The ship had passed through the Bab al-Mandab Strait sailing from Singapore to Port Suez, Egypt. While there was no indication of a fire on board, Maersk said out of a concern for crew safety they were again rerouting all sailings.

Most of the transits are being made by smaller operators. BIMCO reported this week that traffic through the region was down by 50 percent in January and February. In the first three weeks of March, they calculated that the gross tonnage transiting the Suez Canal had dropped 61 percent year-over-year