Global shipping lines have been increasingly strained as the Houthi militia in Yemen expands its attacks on cargo ships, one of the industry’s largest companies warned on Monday.
“The risk zone has widened,” Maersk, the second-largest ocean carrier, said in a note to clients, adding that the stress was causing more delays and higher costs.
Since late last year, the Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, where Asian cargo ships must pass through to reach the Suez Canal. This has forced ocean carriers to avoid the sea and take a much longer route to Europe, passing through the southern tip of Africa. But in recent weeks, the Houthis have been trying to attack ships making that longer journey in the Indian Ocean.
Because traveling around Africa takes longer, shipping companies have had to add more vessels to ensure they can transport goods on time and without reducing volumes.
The threat to ships in the Indian Ocean has only compounded the difficulties. “This has forced our vessels to further lengthen their journey, resulting in additional time and costs to get cargo to its destination for the time being,” Maersk said.
The company estimated that putting additional ships and equipment on the Asia-Europe route would result in a 15 to 20 percent drop in industry-wide capacity in the three months to the end of June.
That said, shipping companies have a lot of spare capacity because they have ordered many new ships in recent years.
Maersk said on Monday that customers should expect to see higher surcharges on shipping bills as a result of higher costs borne by the shipping line, including a 40 percent increase in fuel use per voyage.
The cost of shipping a container from Asia to a northern European port was $3,550 last week, according to Freightos, a digital shipping marketplace, down from a recent high of $5,492 in January, and well below rates which rose to more than $14,000 when global shipping stalled. during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, have said their attacks were in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.