TODAY-Dec 19
The United States on Monday (Dec 18) announced a 10-nation coalition to fend off missile and drone attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea, which is part of a major global shipping route. This came in the midst of growing attacks on ships in the area by the Houthi group based in Yemen, who said that they are targeting Israeli-linked ships using drones and missiles as a retaliation to the ongoing assault by Israel on the Gaza Strip since October. The attacks on more than a dozen ships — including a vessel managed by a Singapore-based firm — by the Iran-backed Houthis, has caused major shipping players to reroute or cancel their shipments. Maersk, the world’s second largest shipping line, said on Tuesday that it would reroute some of its vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. BP has also halted oil and gas shipments through the region. The Red Sea trade route is a “strategically significant” one, Container xChange said. The global container trading and leasing platform added that the 193km Suez Canal that connects the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea accounts for 12 per cent of global trade, including 30 per cent of all container movement. The ongoing disruption is the most recent major shipping incident affecting the Suez route in recent years. Associate Professor Yap Wei Yim from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) told TODAY that the Suez Canal passage is “a key trade route”, particularly for cargo shipments between Asia and Europe. Assoc Prof Tay of SUSS said that as a major logistics hub, Singapore “would certainly be impacted” by potential rerouting or delays of shipments. “The Christmas and end-of-the-year peak season for the shippers around the corner is very likely to add on the already strained logistical network,” she said. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/explainer-will-global-supply-chains-be-disrupted-ship-attacks-red-sea-and-singapore-affected-2328961
