Oil giant BP, Evergreen Line pause all transits through Red Sea
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BP and Evergreen Line have suspended shipments passing through the Red Sea amid Yemeni operations.
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Yemeni Armed Forces boarding the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023 (AP)
Conglomerate oil giant BP is pausing all its Red Sea shipments "until further notice," reports stated on Monday.
The decision was taken as a result of the unstable environment through water canals in the Red Sea, as the Yemeni Resistance declared that any Israeli-affiliated ship going through its waters would be targeted, in an act of solidarity with Palestine.
"The safety and security of our people and those working on our behalf is BP's priority. In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea. We will keep this precautionary pause under ongoing review, subject to circumstances as they evolve in the region," BP said.
Several other shipping companies have suspended shipments following the Yemeni operations in the waterway. Evergreen Line also paused all shipments going through the Red Sea "until further notice" as well, after revealing that it would no longer import or export Israeli cargo on its ships.
This threatens the Israeli supply chain, as the Red Sea makes one of the most vital routes for oil, fuel, and consumer goods shipments, and "Israel" significantly depends on imports.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM announced on Saturday they were suspending passage through the Red Sea.
The declaration by MSC, an Italian-Swiss conglomerate, and CMA CGM, a French shipping company, follows a similar move by the world's second-largest shipping company, A.P. Moller-Maersk, who announced, on Friday, the suspension of all container traffic through the Red Sea until further notice.
After Maersk, the German international shipping company Hapag-Lloyd issued a comparable statement, saying it would stop all container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday when it would reassess the situation.
"Hapag-Lloyd will take additional measures to secure the safety of our crews," the spokesperson said, declining to provide additional comments.
On December 14, the Yemeni Armed Forces announced that their Naval forces carried out a military operation against the Maersk Gibraltar cargo ship, which was en route to the Israeli occupation entity.
In addition, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, publicly announced that the Yemeni Naval Forces targeted the MSC Alanya and the MSC PALATIUM III with anti-ship missiles, dealing direct hits to the two vessels, on December 15.
No peace in the Red Sea without a ceasefire in Gaza
This comes as Ansar Allah Political Bureau member Abdul-Malik al-Ajri said on December 14 that there is no way to restore calm in the Red Sea without a ceasefire in Gaza.
"There is no way of preventing the escalation except by moving towards a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip," al-Ajri said.
Through a post he made on X, the Yemeni top official stressed that peace in the Red Sea was "linked to restoring calm in the Gaza Strip," clearly talking about a ceasefire as the Israeli occupation continues to escalate against the strip's civilian population.
He also stressed that even if all the naval fleets on Earth gathered in the Red Sea, they "would not bring security to Israel or Israeli ships, nor any ships heading to [Israel]."
من الجيد ما نلمسه من ادراك لبعض الأطراف الدولية أنه ما من سبيل لمنع توسع التصعيد سيما في البحر الأحمر إلا بالدفع نحو وقف اطلاق نار دائم ورفع الحصار عن غزة ،وعلى من لم من يصل لمثل هذه القناعة- حتى الآن- أن يدرك جيدا أن أساطيل الارض لو احتشدت الى البحر الأحمر لن تجلب الأمان…
— عبدالملك العجريAbdulmalik Alejri (@alejri77) December 13, 2023
Read more: International talks on Red Sea, unwavering stance on Gaza: Sanaa
