According to Sindh Maritime News, on December 16, following the announcement of the suspension of the Red Sea route by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, MSC Shipping and CMA CGM also announced that their ships will suspend the passage of their ships through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. This means that Europe's four top container shipping lines have all suspended services on routes that require the Red Sea.
The above-mentioned Mediterranean Shipping, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd are the world's first, second, SI and fifth largest container shipping companies respectively. All four companies have a large number of large ships deployed on the Asia-Europe route, all of which sail through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. If all the above-mentioned shipping companies decide to stop their ships from passing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and instead circumnavigate the Cape of Good Hope, it will be a disaster for the Suez Canal and Egypt...Of course, this is a disaster for the global economy. Europe to Southeast Asia, Middle East to Europe, Middle East to US East Coast ships, Southeast Asia to US East Coast, US East Coast to Europe routes will all be affected. This means that these routes will be forced to choose other routes. Containers heading west will now have to bypass Africa, which will add 7-14 days of transit time.
All of this is due to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the Houthis in Yemen have chosen to attack all Israeli-related ships in order to show their support for their Hamas brothers in Palestine. They used rockets, ballistic missiles and drones, and even hijacked ships directly on board. So far, 12 Israeli-linked vessels have either been seized, sunk or damaged.
As we all know, Israel is a country that relies only on sea or air transport for the exchange of goods. According to Clarkson statistics, seaborne imports and exports**: In 2022, Israel's seaborne imports exceeded 40 million tons, accounting for 03%。The main imports were: ** 13 million tonnes, coal 7 million tonnes and refined oil products 5 million tonnes. In 2022, Israel exported more than 10 million tonnes of seaborne exports, accounting for 01%。Among them, the main export commodities are: 6 million tons of refined oil and fertilizers (4 million tons of potash, accounting for 9% of the world's seaborne potash fertilizer**).
Israel's main partners are the United States, China, the European Union, India and Turkey. Among them, goods from China and India, which used to pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, can now only be achieved by bypassing Africa. This will lead to prices in Israel**. So far, the elements of civil strife in Israel are in place. Food and oil prices have begun to soar in the north as hundreds of thousands of people forced to evacuate with Lebanese Allah roam inside Israel. It is worth mentioning that Turkey really holds the line of life and death for Israel. Because Turkey** gives Israel a whopping 76% of its oil (Turkey + Russia in the figure below). If Turkey is indeed as committed to supporting the Palestinian Hamas militant forces as Yemen's Houthis, Israel should theoretically surrender tomorrow. It's just that Erdogan in Turkey doesn't know what medicine is sold in the gourd. While scolding Israel to the point of blood, it still maintains its oil for Israel. Presumably, the "Ottoman Sultan" Erdogan is waiting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to kneel and beg for mercy.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is getting more and more complicated! What was originally just Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip is now more and more like the collective punishment of Israel by the Arab countries of the Middle East. If that is the case, then the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will soon be over. Because Israel has nothing to gain at all, it is not worth the loss to spend so much effort to fight a war that has nothing to gain.
Thank you for reading and comments are welcome**.