SHELL, NYK SUSPEND RED SEA ROUTES
WASHINGTON, D.C: British oil giant Shell has paused transit through the key Red Sea shipping route indefinitely over fears of escalating tensions involving Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to a media report Tuesday.
The Houthis have been targeting what they deemed Israeli-linked vessels. But after Friday’s strikes, they declared US and British interests “legitimate targets.”
On Sunday, US forces shot down a Houthi cruise missile targeting an American destroyer, and on Monday a US-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman was hit by another Houthi missile.
Shell decided to suspend transit last week, considering worries that a successful attack could cause a major spill and threaten the safety of ship crew, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The company declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Journal also reported that in December, a tanker chartered by Shell was targeted by a drone in the Red Sea, and harassed by Houthi boats.
The oil major’s decision comes after Britain’s BP said in December that it would suspend transit of oil through the Red Sea.
At the start of the month, shipping giant Maersk also noted it would divert vessels around Africa instead of using the Red Sea and Suez Canal for the foreseeable future.
Qatar’s prime minister said that liquefied natural gas shipments would be affected by tensions in the area, warning that strikes on Yemen risk worsening the crisis.
Meanwhile, Japanese shipping firm Nippon Yusen said on Wednesday it is joining other major companies in suspending routes through the Red Sea.
“We have suspended navigation through the Red Sea by all ships we operate,” a spokesman for the firm, also known as NYK Line, told AFP, adding the decision was to “ensure the safety of crews.”
Since Friday, US and British forces have been bombing scores of targets inside Houthicontrolled Yemen in response to the attacks by the rebels who have been targeting Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza.
The situation has heightened fears of the Israel-Hamas war flaring across the region and disrupted trade in one of the world’s key maritime commercial routes.
The waterway between Asian and European markets normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.
The attacks have forced shipping companies to sail around the southern tip of Africa, which takes longer and is more expensive.
Two other major Japanese shipping firms — Kawasaki Kisen and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines — have also suspended navigation through the Red Sea, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported Tuesday.
Officials of the two companies were not immediately available for comment on the report.
Last month, Ocean Network Express, a container shipping business jointly set up by the three Japanese firms said that they would avoid the Red Sea.
In November, the Houthi rebels said that they had seized a ship owned by an Israeli businessman and rerouted it to Yemen’s coast.
The vessel is operated by Nippon Yusen, which said it had set up a task team to gather information to ensure the safety of the 25-strong crew.
As of Wednesday, however, Nippon Yusen has no fresh information on the seized ship, the spokesman said.
“We have received no information, while we are worried about” the fate of the vessel and its crew, he said.