Red Sea: Things were bad, they got worse
The world's largest logistics companies point out that the situation related to the safety of cargo transportation in the Red Sea has only worsened after the US began military operations against the Houthis .
The CEOs of the world's largest logistics companies, including Maersk and Norden , have reported that cargo operations in the Red Sea have worsened despite US military operations against the Houthis to ensure security. This is reported by Bloomberg.
This week, another major shipping company , Mitsui OSK, said that the disruption in cargo transit through the Red Sea could last up to a year. Economic losses caused by outages amount to billions of dollars. Egypt, which benefits from the Suez Canal, and India, which imports most of its oil through the canal, are being hit hardest by the crisis. In particular, New Delhi could lose more than $30 billion in the fiscal year ending in March due to the situation in the Red Sea.
The reason for the crisis is the increasing number of attacks on commercial ships by the Yemeni government . Since the end of October, the Houthis have attacked more than 40 ships belonging to Israel. The latest attack took place on February 7: rebels claim a successful attack on British and American ships in the Red Sea. This calls into question the Joe Biden administration's claims about the effectiveness of the US-UK naval strikes in Yemen.
According to the Bloomberg agency , none of the two attacked ships was seriously damaged. However, the incident shows that commercial ships will need to pay higher insurance premiums or take the longer and more expensive route around Africa.
On February 5, UK Defense Secretary Grant Shepps told MPs that the frequency of civilian attacks had changed.
" The Houthis are running out of time because their capabilities are deteriorating, " the minister said. " They no longer have radar stations, and they are becoming more and more dependent on Iran . "
However, subsequent attacks by the Houthis on US and British ships prove otherwise.
