Brave into the tiger's den in Longtan alone?What is the "China Galaxy" appearing in the Red Sea?
Since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, tensions in the waters of the Red Sea-Bab el-Mandeb Strait have escalated, causing shipping in the region to become extremely dangerous, with a huge impact on merchant shipping and the international ** chain.
In order to reduce the risk, four major international shipping giants – Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, Denmark's Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and France's CMA CGM – announced between December 15 and 18 that they would suspend sailing in the Red Sea or choose to make a detour to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
Although a number of international shipping giants have suspended the Red Sea route business, there are some surprising news on social media: "China's COSCO Shipping's 'Yinhe' freighter flying the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region bravely crossed the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an astonishing move that immediately attracted global attention and heated discussions." ”
Recently, netizens have been discussing a container ship named "China Galaxy", calling it "not afraid of threats", "forcing into the Red Sea", and showing a model of "promoting China's prestige". Some have even exaggerated claims that it is "the only merchant ship in the world that has passed through the Red Sea without being attacked by the Houthis".
However, the reality is that the "China Galaxy" did not really pass through the Red Sea. In fact, the ship turned around halfway through the Red Sea and did not pass through the Red Sea-Bab el-Mandeb Strait at all.
It is worth noting that the official name of the "China Galaxy" is "COSCO Shipping Galaxy", which is the third 21000TEU ultra-large container ship of COSCO Shipping Group, with a total deadweight of 1980,000 tons. The ship was designed by the 78th Research Institute of CSSC, and Jiangnan Shipbuilding was built and put into use in 2019.
On December 2, the COSCO SHIPPING Galaxy from Wilhelmshaven in Europe set sail for China and passed through the Suez Canal on December 14. Subsequently, on December 18, he continued to sail in the Red Sea, which attracted the attention and praise of social **, calling it "persisting in sailing despite danger".
However, on December 19, the COSCO SHIPPING Galaxy suddenly turned around in the waters near Sudan and was scheduled to pass through the Suez Canal again on December 21. According to the ship's real-time tracking**, the ship entered the Suez Canal at 22 o'clock on December 21 and was about to return to the Mediterranean.
Is this what netizens call "crossing the Red Sea without fear of danger"?In fact, according to the domestic directive of December 9, the ship may be faced with the dilemma of not being able to move forward, so it quickly turns around and returns to the sea. For a very large container ship full of cargo, the value of the cargo is extremely high, and the shipping company must ensure safety, preferring to detour the Cape of Good Hope rather than avoid potential risks. It has nothing to do with what some netizens call "raising the prestige of our country".
The increased number of miles sailed by detours has a relatively small impact on shipping companies, but increases the cost of sailing, which is ultimately passed on to cargo owners and consumers. Therefore, ensuring the safety of navigation is of the utmost importance.
According to a CBN report, various branches and subsidiaries of COSCO SHIPPING Group held a special meeting on December 19 to deal with the escalation of the situation in the Red Sea. Subsequently, China's large container ships began to return or choose to detour the Red Sea.
Although there was a container ship named "COSCO Shipping Galaxy" sailing in the Red Sea on December 18, as of the 19th, other container ships began to adopt the strategy of returning or detouring. On the 19th, a large Chinese container ship from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea chose to return directly and circumnavigate the Cape of Good Hope.
At present, more than 100 ships have chosen to detour to the Cape of Good Hope, involving ship owners including MSC, COSCO Shipping, OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, etc. Circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope will significantly increase ocean freight costs and will consume a significant amount of international capacity, which is expected to consume 2.5 million TEUs, equivalent to 9% of the total capacity of the global container fleet.
Choosing to detour the Cape of Good Hope to Africa will greatly increase shipping costs. Voyage times will increase by 58 to 130 per cent on major routes from the Middle East to Europe, India to Europe, Russia to India and China. Among them, the Middle East Gulf to the Mediterranean route saw the largest increase in cargo transit time, reaching 130%, from 17 days to 39 days. Marine insurance premiums**, loss of capacity, and longer transit times will all contribute to driving up the cost of transporting goods internationally, thereby increasing the commodity**.
There have been comments that the Houthis are very face-saving to China and will not attack Chinese merchant ships, but this seems to be a kind of self-inflicted sentiment.
In fact, shipping in the Red Sea region has not been interrupted at present, and a large number of foreign merchant ships still pass through on a daily basis. However, there is a significant increase in shipping risks in this area. For tankers or bulk carriers with a lower value, the situation is relatively good, but for container ships with a higher value, the risks are too great. Therefore, the container ships of major shipping giants have chosen to detour the Cape of Good Hope, even COSCO Shipping is no exception.