Shipping firms MSC, CMA CGM suspend passage through Red Sea
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The declaration by MSC, an Italian-Swiss conglomerate, and CMA CGM, a French shipping company, follows a similar move by two of the world's largest shipping corporations, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.
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The container ship CMA CGM Laperouse, left, docks at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah, Sept. 29, 2021, in Savannah, GA (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, file)
After repeated operations from Yemeni Armed Forces in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM, announced 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.
This decision comes in response to an attack by the Yemeni Armed Forces on container ships heading to Israeli-occupied Palestine in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Simultaneously, 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.
On Saturday morning, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed a US missile destroyer in the Red Sea shot down 14 drones fired from Yemen, adding that regional allies had been notified of the incident.
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 Friday.
Two US officials recently stated that the Biden administration has conveyed messages to the Yemeni Armed Forces in Yemen through various channels, cautioning them to cease their operations on ships in the Red Sea and against "Israel."
The operations in Yemen have posed a threat to Israeli and Israeli-affiliated ships sailing one of the key commercial shipping routes in the region, in solidarity with Palestine.
Yemen ops. target Israeli interests, not world countries: Al-Bukhaiti
The goal of threatening Israeli ships and ships heading toward the occupation entity in the Red Sea is not to harm the interests of world countries, but for ethical purposes in response to the ongoing brutal war on Gaza, member of the Political Bureau of Ansar Allah movement, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, confirmed to Al Mayadeen on Thursday.
Sanaa declared last month that it will commence operations against Israeli and Israeli-affiliated ships in the Red Sea in support of the people in Gaza until the war on the Strip stops.
The enforced decision compelled many major shipping companies to adopt significantly lengthier sailing routes, leading to increased costs, insurance premiums, and the delivery time of cargo heading to the occupation entity.
The matter got worse for "Israel" after the Yemeni Armed Forces announced a new equation earlier this week following a US veto on a ceasefire in Gaza at the UNSC meeting, which added that ships heading to "Israel", regardless of their nationality, to the ban, and expanded the scope to include the Arabian Sea alongside the Red Sea.
Al-Bukhaiti said the operations have proven the strength and wisdom of Yemen, pointing out that they have greatly affected the entity and the United States, adding that the ceasefire in Gaza, which lasted for a week, was one of their results.
Reiterating warnings announced by top Yemeni officials, he stressed that the only way to avoid expanding the war to include the entire region is to stop the aggression on Gaza.
