Swiss shipping giant MSC confirmed one of its container vessels was targeted by Houthi rebels in Yemen on Tuesday as it transited the Red Sea en route from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan. Photo courtesy MSC
Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a missile strike against a container ship owned by Swiss shipping giant MSC as it transited the Red Sea en route from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.
The Shia-Islamist group’s naval forces carried out “a targeting operation against the commercial ship , MSC United VIII, with appropriate naval missiles,” Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Yahya Sare’e said Tuesday in a post on X. Advertisement
MSC confirmed the incident in a news release saying the United sought assistance from a nearby coalition task force warship and undertook evasive maneuvers as directed and that none of its crew were hurt.
However, the statement did not provide any details of the damage to the vessel, if any.
“Currently, all crew are safe with no reported injuries and a thorough assessment of the vessel is being conducted,” MSC said.
“Our first priority remains protecting the lives and safety of our seafarers, and until their safety can be ensured MSC will continue to reroute vessels booked for Suez transit via the Cape of Good Hope.”
It was unclear why the United was on the Red Sea route nearly two weeks after MSC said it was pausing all travel via the Red Sea due to the risk to shipping from attacks by Houthi rebels who back Hamas in the Gaza war. Advertisement
Tuesday’s attack comes as Danish shipping giant Maersk said it was making tentative preparations to restart operations via the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden following the deployment of a U.S-led multinational naval task force to protect commercial shipping.
The world’s second-largest shipping company stressed that while it hoped to resume sailings through the Red Sea, both eastbound and westbound, it would not hesitate to “re-evaluate the situation and once again initiate diversion plans if we deem it necessary for the safety of our seafarers.”
Maersk paused all its vessels on the route Dec. 15 and four days later said it would reroute all Red Sea-bound vessels around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope — a 3,500-mile diversion.
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd shipping line said it would re-evaluate the security situation in the region on Wednesday before determining whether to resume using the Red Sea route.
The other two global container shipping giants — Taiwan’s Evergreen and France’s CMA CGM — have either paused sailing via the Red Sea or are re-routing vessels around Africa.
Analysts are warning the disruption could feed to through to higher freight rates due to extra fuel costs and reduced supply as the extra time at sea strips capacity from the market. Advertisement
