The interruption of maritime container traffic in the Red Sea is worsening and is expected to reduce the capacity of the sector between the Far East and Europe between 15% and 20% in the second quarter of this year, the group said this Monday. Maersk shipping company. The company, seen as a barometer of global trade, said last week that shipping disruptions caused by the Houthi movement’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea were expected to last at least until the end of the year.
“The risk zone has expanded and the attacks are extending further out to sea,” Maersk said in a notice to its customers this Monday. “This has forced our ships to further extend their journey, which currently translates into additional time and costs to get their cargo to its destination,” she added.
The repercussions of the situation include bottlenecks and so-called “vessel bunching”, in which several ships arrive at the port at the same time, as well as shortages of equipment and capacity. “We are doing everything we can to increase reliability, including sailing faster and increasing capacity,” Maersk said, adding that it had so far leased more than 125,000 additional containers.
