By Enes Tunagur
(Reuters) – Red Sea shipping remains risky despite the Gaza ceasefire and an announcement by Yemen’s Houthis to limit attacks, according to the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s logistics and shipping arm.
Shipping executives remain cautious about a return to the Red Sea given the risk to seafarers, cargo and their assets. The Iran-backed Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships since November 2023, resulting in most shipping companies diverting vessels away from the Suez Canal to instead use the longer route around southern Africa.
“As we speak today, we cannot say it’s almost completely gone, and it’s a go ahead for all the fleet to go inside the Red Sea. As I said, there is a people side of it, so we cannot risk our people going there while there is maybe a fragile ceasefire now,” ADNOC Logistics & Services CEO Abdulkareem Al Masabi told Reuters.
Danish shipping company Maersk said on Friday it would continue to reroute around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope until safe passage through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden area was ensured for the longer term.
The Houthis will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ship provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented, although they have conditioned their halt in attacks on U.S. or UK linked shipping with various provisos, which has added to caution on any return, shipping and insurance sources say.
The Houthis on Wednesday freed crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vessel that the militant group seized more than a year ago. And Washington this week designated the Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization”, which is likely to add to fresh tensions with the militia.
(Reporting by Enes Tunagur; additional reporting by Jonathan Saul)
