Last Friday it was reported a commercial shipping vessel was attacked in the Red Sea, the Al Jasrah, owned and operated by Hapag Llyod, whilst sailing through the Bab al-Mandab strait. The attack caused a fire on deck and resulted in a container falling overboard. 

It’s now being reported that just one day before the attack on the AL Jasrah, that a missile was launched at the the Danish owned Maersk Vessel, Maersk Gibraltar. Luckily the missile did not strike the ship, which was sailing from the port of Salalah in Oman to the port of Jeddah in Saudi.

As a result of the recent attacks, as well as a string of other attacks on commercial shipping fleets, shipping lines are taking the decision to pause all transits through the desperately important Suez Canal/Red Sea routing. As the situation unfolds it is becoming increasingly likely that all carriers will opt to head around the Cape of Good Hope, until further notice. As a result we can expect delays of between 10-15 days on transits, as well as the introduction of a WRS (War Risk Surcharge) on top of the already rising December/January freight costs. 

As it stands we have only had notice of one particular shipping line touting a WRS and that is to the tune of approx. $1500 for a 20FT and $3000 for a 40HC! However, with Military intervention from the UK and US now in place, it is yet to be seen how the situation will play out. 

Intel coming from the shipping lines is limited but we are doing all we can to stay on top of the situation, as soon as we are aware of any news regarding particular vessels/routings, we will be sure to inform you of your affected shipments.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact the office on 01394 799055 and ask to speak to Leigh or Seb.