Maersk diverts ships away from the Red Sea 'for the foreseeable future'

In a press release on Friday, Danish company Maersk stated that all the company's ships that were scheduled to cross the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden will turn south to rotate around the Cape of Good Hope  "for the foreseeable future."

Maersk announced on January 2 that it would temporarily halt all ships heading to the Red Sea and, consequently, the shortcut route through the Suez Canal between Europe and Asia following an attack on one of its ships by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Since then, it has started diverting ship routes to circumnavigate Africa.

The company stated on Friday, "The situation is continuously evolving and remains very fragile, with all available information confirming that security risks are still very high."

It added, "Therefore, we have decided to divert all Maersk ships that were supposed to cross the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden southward around the Cape of Good Hope soon."

Reuters