Since last November the number of containerships being rerouted from Suez to the Cape of Good Hope has reached a record level of 403 vessels, totaling 5.14 million TEUs, according to Linerlytica’s latest report.
According to Linerlytica, the recent surge in the number of vessels in transit around the southern end of the Cape Peninsula is partly due to CMA CGM’s decision to suspend, until further notice, all the Bab al-Mandab Strait crossings by its ships in and out of the Red Sea.
The French company had been one of the few to have continued sending some of its fleet across the Red Sea. Then, on 4th February, probably after the Houthi rebels attacked the Koi boxship, the carrier drastically decided to revise its schedules.
The situation is likely to change again over the next few days, due to an overall reassessment of the risks of crossing the Red Sea by shipping companies.
Today the French carrier announced its intention to return to using the Suez route for its east-west transits on a case-by-case basis. Its website informs its clients that “The CMA CGM Group has reevaluated the situation in the Southern Area of the Red Sea and the evolving conditions allow us to resume transit on case-by-case basis. The situation is being closely assessed for each vessel before each transit, routing choices therefore cannot be anticipated or communicated.”
Translation by Giles Foster
