Maersk Announces Return to Red Sea

The decision follows the successful Suez transits of the Maersk Sebarok and Maersk Denver. Image Credit: Maersk

Container line AP Moller-Maersk has announced a return of its vessels to regularly voyage through the Red Sea and use the Suez Canal following reduced attacks from Yemen.

The decision follows the successful Suez transits of the Maersk Sebarok and Maersk Denver, the company said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

The company's MECL service connecting the Middle East and India with the US East Coast will now transit the Suez Canal on a regular basis, starting with the Cornelia Maersk departing from Jebel Ali on January 15 and in the other direction with the Maersk Detroit, which left North Charleston on January 10.

"Maersk will continue to monitor the security situation in the Middle East region very closely, and any alteration to the MECL service will remain dependent on the ongoing stability in the Red Sea area and the absence of any escalation in conflicts in the region," the company said.

"The safety of crew, assets, and customers' cargo remains the highest priority. Maersk has contingency plans in place should the security situation deteriorate, which may necessitate reverting individual MECL sailings or the wider structural change of the MECL service back to the Cape of Good Hope route."

Leading shipping companies have been avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal for the past two years because of attacks on commercial shipping in the area from Yemen's Houthi movement. The effect has been to force ships to take longer voyages around Africa, raising global bunker demand.

But these attacks have dropped almost to a standstill in recent months, meaning many companies are now starting to assess whether a return to Suez is safe. The gradual reversal of the Red Sea diversions effect on bunker demand will be dependent on the security situation in the area remaining stable.