Danish shipping titan suspends all traffic through Red Sea amid Houthi threat

One of the world's largest shipping companies, Denmark's Moller-Maersk announced it would put all container shipments through the Red Sea on hold until further notice following attacks on vessels passing through by Houthi rebels in the past weeks.

A spokesperson for Maersk, as the company is commonly known, told the Reuters publication on December 15 that they will instead navigate their vessels around Africa as they are deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden ever since the breakout of violence in the wider region following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice", the statement reads.

This news comes only a day after one of the company's vessels, Maersk Gibraltar, was targeted by a missile while travelling from a port in Oman to Saudi Arabia. While Houthi rebels claimed their missile did hit the ship, Maersk denied this and reported their crew to be safe.