① The “MAERSK HANGZHOU” ship in Maersk's list of ships returning to the Red Sea was reported to have been attacked on the 30th local time. The ship docked at an Israeli port on October 12; ② analysts say it is not yet possible to determine whether the return Red Sea liner company will detour again; ③ the online freight rate platform shows that the Far East-Haifa freight rate remained above 6,000 US dollars/FEU for the January voyage.
The Financial Services Association reported on December 31 that Maersk just announced the list of ships returning to sail in the Red Sea. The “MAERSK HANGZHOU” ship was among them, but it was attacked by the Houthis in Yemen. Also, due to the ongoing impact of the Red Sea incident, the freight rates for January flights on the relevant routes remained high.
According to official Twitter from the US Central Command, at around 8:30 p.m. local time on the 30th, the container ship “MAERSK HANGZHOU” was reported to have been attacked. The US Navy shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired at warships from areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen.
A CIFA reporter saw on COSCO Shipwatch that the container ship's AIS information has been suspended from being updated. Judging from its past driving trajectory, the ship mainly serves the Far East-Mediterranean route. It is worth mentioning that the ship docked at the Israeli port of Haifa on 12 October and left the port on 13 October.
Yemen's Houthis also recently reiterated that they only attack Israeli ships and ships bound for Israel.
Regarding the impact of the attack on ships that have resumed sailing in the Red Sea, the aforementioned analyst said that the incident has now involved political acts, and it is not yet possible to determine whether the liner company that chose to return to the Red Sea will detour again.
A Finance Association reporter inquired about ShipShibao's “Resume Red Sea” application and saw that currently there are still quite a few container ships returning (resuming navigation in the Red Sea). The main liner companies are Maersk and France's Dafei, and only 1 COSCO Shipping shipping under COSCO Maritime Control has returned.
Maersk said in an announcement that if the safety of the crew is threatened, Maersk will not hesitate to re-evaluate the situation and launch another detour plan. France's Dafei also said it is ready to re-evaluate and adjust the plan in a timely manner as needed.
However, as to whether plans to return to the Red Sea will be changed in the future due to the impact of this attack, Maersk has yet to respond to the Financial Services Association reporter as of press release.
“However, freight rates may be supported by this, and it is difficult to decline, especially for routes related to Israel.” The aforementioned analyst said.
According to the latest data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, on December 29, the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) Composite Tariff Index (SCFI) published by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange was 1759.57 points, a sharp increase of 40.2% over the previous period. Among them, for European routes, the freight rates (shipping and shipping surcharges) for exports from Shanghai Port to basic European and Mediterranean port markets on December 29 were $2,694/TEU and $3,491/TEU, up 80.0% and 70.0% respectively from the previous period.
“As of the close of trading on December 29, the recent EC2404 contract for the Consolidated Shipping Index (European line) futures was 1,643 points. It is expected that the index futures will also maintain an upward trend in the short term.” The aforementioned analyst said.
According to the freight situation shown by the online freight inquiry platform GeekYum, the current freight rate for the January voyage departing from ZIM.US Far East-Israel port Haifa is $6,311 per FEU, which is 600 US dollars/FEU lower than the search results on December 23; ONE's freight rate increased by 500 US dollars/FEU to 6540 US dollars/FEU from the 23rd; MSC's price remains at 6440 US dollars/FEU.
Editor/Corrine