by Reuters
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and Hong Kong’s OOCL said on Thursday they would avoid the Red Sea, the latest shipping companies to do so after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group on vessels disrupted global trade, prompting the establishment of a naval task force.
The hostilities have put a chokehold on ship passages through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12% of worldwide trade. The Suez Canal is most vital to the movement of goods between Asia and Europe, but global shipping experts warned that resulting dislocations could cascade around the globe if ships, containers and other equipment required to reroute goods are in the wrong places.