In the Middle East, Houthi Rebels have confirmed that their attacks on commercial shipping will come to an end, with the exception of targeting vessels that are owned by Israel or sail under the Israeli flag.
It has been over a year since the targeting of cargo ships by the Houthi’s began, but following the Gaza ceasefire agreement that seems likely to end for the majority of ships.
The rebels have also added the condition that in the event of any aggression against the republic of Yemen by the US, the UK, or Israel, they will resume attacks on US/UK vessels.
While this month marks a year since ocean freight carriers started to divert their containerships around the Cape Of Good Hope, the news that attacks may be set to stop is most welcome.
Hopefully, this is the first step towards ships returning to the Suez Canal route, but there still remains a number of obstacles to overcome.
Firstly, carriers will likely need to build up trust in the Houthi’s claim before risking their crews and equipment, and secondly they have all added more ships to cover the needs of the longer rotations, which will need some serious adjustments to avoid overcapacity.
It took most of last year to accomodate the needs of the longer transit times and to overcome the major disruption that impacted Asia/European supply chains. Therefore, it seems unlikely that the current schedules will be changing in the immediate future.
However, the team at Regal Crown will be monitoring developments with great interest.
