South Korea’s HMM is the latest liner company to suspend Red Sea trade routes following a series of attacks on merchant ships in the area.
“Due to mounting geopolitical risks in the Red Sea, we decided to re-route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope instead of passing through the Suez Canal,” HMM’s spokesperson said.
The decision to pause the Red Sea route will probably see HMM stop calling at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Islamic Port on its Far East-India-Mediterranean (FIM) service network.
“We are still reviewing the sailing plans of our FIM service, including the port of calls, particularly Jeddah, in case we divert around the Cape of Good Hope,” the company said.
HMM is the second Asia liner company to make the route diversion. On Saturday, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) announced that it will stop cargo acceptance to and from Israel with immediate effect until further notice due to “operational Issues”.
On 3 December, the OOCL-chartered, 4,253-teu boxship Number 9 (built 2007) was hit by a drone attack launched by the Houthis.
The Houthi regime, which controls large swathes of Yemen, started attacking commercial vessels last month in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which has so far claimed more than 18,000 lives.
Liner companies that have suspended sailing through the Red Sea include AP Moller-Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM.
