Since December, Yemen's Houthis have attacked cargo ships passing through the waters near the Red Sea route, and several container shipping companies have announced the suspension of routes in the Red Sea region. After the cargo ship was attacked again, Maersk once again announced the suspension of all Red Sea transportation for 48 hours on December 31. The situation in the Red Sea has changed again. Affected by this, the opening of all contracts on the shipping index (European line) on January 2 hit a rise or fall.
Figure: European freight forwarding related indices
Let's take a look at how the Red Sea situation is expected to evolve in the future, and how will it affect the market?
Figure: Shipping concept sector trends
1. Sorting out the timeline of the Red Sea incident: The situation in the Red Sea changed when it was attacked again under escort
In order to make it easier for everyone to understand, we have sorted out the Red Sea events according to the timeline:
On December 15, 2023, the Houthis in Yemen fired a missile at a container ship bound for Israel. On the same day, shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and Denmark's Maersk Shipping Group announced the suspension of container ship transportation via the Red Sea route.
On December 18, 2023, US Secretary of Defense Austin announced joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to protect transiting merchant ships.
On December 20, 2023, as of 20, many major shipping companies, including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, Mediterranean, Dafei, and Evergreen Shipping, announced the suspension of the Red Sea-Suez Canal route and detour to the Cape of Good Hope, and at least 13 shipping companies have announced detour plans.
On December 24, 2023, under an escort operation led by the United States...