EMEA News
HMM Joins Red Sea Boxship Exodus After Houthi Attacks
Container line HMM has joined the list of companies avoiding the Red Sea -- and thus the Suez Canal -- in response to a recent spate of attacks in the area.
The company's ships will avoid the area and take the longer route around Africa 'as a precautionary measure', it said in a customer advisory on its website on Tuesday.
"HMM is deeply concerned about recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea," the company said.
"As a precautionary measure, we have instructed all HMM vessels in the area, bound to pass through the Suez Canal, to reroute to Cape of Good Hope to ensure safe delivery of your cargoes and protection of our crews and vessels as well.
"We will provide further updates on THEA vessels' traffic operated by other members as soon as possible."
MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd have already made similar announcements for their container fleets. In the tanker markets BP and Euronav have also announced similar policies.
HMM is the world's eighth-largest container line by capacity.
The container industry as a whole refraining from using Suez and taking longer routes around Africa could boost global bunker demand by as much as 2% for however long the situation lasts.
