Red Sea return for Maersk, Hapag but still risky business

THE CONUNDRUM container lines face in resuming transits through the Suez Canal and Red Sea has been highlighted today in stark fashion.

Overnight Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced they would change the routing of one of their shared services under the Gemini Cooperation, the IMX, to sail through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal—albeit with naval escort.

Within hours of the announcement, however, the USA disclosed it had yesterday shot down an ‘aggressive’ Iranian drone that had approached the USS Abraham Lincoln nuclear aircraft carrier group, which has been deployed by the Trump regime in support of possible military action and ahead of new nuclear disarmament talks.

The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent” when an F-35 fighter jet shot it down, US Central Command said.

“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defence and to protect theaircraft carrier and personnel on board,” Captain Tim Hawkins, a navyspokesperson, said. No US service members were harmed or equipment damaged.

In another Tuesday incident, this time in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards harassed a US-flagged and crewed merchant vessel, the product tanker Stena Imperative, approaching the vessel at high speeds and threatening to board and seize the tanker.

The Gemini IMX service connects Indiaand the Middle East with the Mediterranean, and Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd say frommid-February, changes will be implemented on the westbound sailings as of the 14,942 TEU Albert Maersk and on eastbound sailings of sister Astrid Maersk.

“When possible, Hapag-Lloyd and Maerskwill also implement changes to the SE1 and SE3 services to go through the RedSea and the Suez Canal at a later stage. In this respect, further informationto customers and other relevant stakeholders will follow in due course. Nofurther changes to the Gemini network related to the Red Sea are foreseen atthis stage,” the service partners said.

“The implementation will be carried outin a way that keeps disruption for customers to a minimum, upholding the Gemini Cooperation’s trademark of industry leading schedule reliability.

“The highest possible securityprecautions will be undertaken, as the safety of the crew, the vessels, and thecustomers’ cargo remains the highest priority of both carriers. Maersk andHapag-Lloyd will continue to monitor the security situation in the Middle East region very closely, and any alteration to the Gemini service will remain dependent on the ongoing stability in the Red Sea area and the absence of any escalation in conflicts in the region.”

The re-routing of IMX follows anearlier, incident-free trial by Maersk and contrasts with rival CMA CGM’sadvice last week that it had decided for the time being to reroute vesselsdeployed on three Far East services via the Cape of Good Hope “in light of thecomplex and uncertain international context”.

Only one Australian container servicepreviously used Suez, the MSC AES/CMA CGM Nemo Europe-Australia service, but this has sailed via the Cape of Good Hope since the beginning of 2024 and thereare no current plans to resume the former format.