Shipping groups Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will reopen some shipping routes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal under their shared services network this month, Maersk announced on Tuesday.
Shipping companies are considering returning to the vital Asia-Europe trade corridor after attacks in the Red Sea forced ships to reroute around Africa at the end of 2023, but Yemen’s Houthis say this is to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s joint ME11 service will reopen the Red Sea and Suez Canal routes from mid-February, with ships sailing under naval escort on routes connecting India to the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea, Maersk said in a statement.
A Maersk spokeswoman declined to comment on what type of support it would be or who would provide it.
Testing transit since December
A ceasefire in Gaza that has been in place since October last year has raised new hopes that Red Sea traffic will normalize, although fighting has not completely stopped and both sides in the conflict accuse each other of violating the terms of the agreement.
“The safety of our crew, vessels and customer cargo remains a top priority for both airlines, so we will take the highest possible safety measures,” Maersk said in a statement.
Maersk added that plans to reroute two other services, AE12 and AE15, through the same area will be considered in the future.
Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk established the Gemini network last year to reduce transportation costs and improve schedule reliability.
In December, Maersk’s Severok vessel sailed the route for the first time in almost two years.
The Suez Canal is the fastest route between Europe and Asia and accounted for about 10% of global seaborne trade until the Houthi offensive, according to Clarksons Research.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Terje Solsvik, Louise Rasmussen, Susan Fenton)
