The Alliance is suspending its Asia-Red Sea 1 service due to the threat to the safety of ships and crew.
The AR1 service, offered by the alliance consisting of Ocean Network Express (ONE), Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming and HMM, connects ports in Northeast and Southeast Asia with Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Aqaba in Jordan and Sokhna in Egypt.
ONE said in a customer advisory, “We regret to inform you that due to recent security developments around the Red Sea, the AR1 service will be temporarily suspended until further notice. This decision is a proactive measure prioritising the safety of our crew, vessels and cargo. We understand the inconvenience this may cause, but the suspension is a precautionary measure due to security concerns in the region. We are closely monitoring the situation and will resume AR1 service as soon as it is determined that it is safe for vessels to operate again in the region.”
The vessel’s departure from Port Klang to the Cape of Good Hope, its last port of call in Asia, rather than heading directly to the Red Sea, is considerably longer than the total length of the voyage and involves a transit through the Suez Canal.
One of the remaining four voyages of the service will transit the Red Sea, while the other three will sail via the Cape of Good Hope. Three of the vessels will unload in Singapore.
Hapag-Lloyd said in its customer consultation: “We are currently working on alternative routes to serve the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden ports and these will be announced shortly.”
Due to the ongoing security threat to commercial shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi rebels, most container shipping services transiting the region have been diverted to a longer route via the Cape of Good Hope. Earlier this week, two US-flagged Maersk container ships were subjected to a failed missile attack while transiting the Red Sea.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.