The shipping giant has announced plans to resume shipping routes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal “as soon as conditions allow”
Shipping group Maersk has been encouraged by the peace process in Gaza, according to CEO Vincent Clerc, who spoke this week at a joint press conference with Suez Canal Authority Chair Osama Rabie in Egypt.
Clerc said this would establish freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandab strait linking the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, Reuters reported.
“Given the significant progress in both Gaza and Bab al-Mandab, Maersk will take steps to resume navigation around the East-West corridor via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, and normalise transit over time,” said Clerc.
He said that Maersk would resume navigating via the Red Sea “as soon as conditions allow, with the safety of our crew as a top priority”.
Maersk started diverting vessels away from the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea towards the Cape of Good Hope in January 2024, after attacks on its ships by Yemen’s Houthi militants acting in solidarity with Gazans under Israeli bombardment.
Issues in the Red Sea, as well as other regional challenges, cost Egypt an estimated US$7bn in revenues from the Suez Canal in 2024.
