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Tag: Houthi movement
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1/31: Prime Time with John Dickerson
1/31: Prime Time with John Dickerson – CBS News
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Carnival reroutes Red Sea cruises as fighting in the region intensifies
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Carnival is rerouting 12 ships across seven brands that were scheduled to cruise through the Red Sea in May, joining an expanding list of companies bypassing the key transit route as attacks by Houthi militants persist.
Carnival said it made the decision to avoid the region after consulting with security experts and government authorities.
“The company has not seen an impact on booking trends due to the Red Sea situation and has no other Red Sea transits until November 2024,” Carnival stated. “The losses should be offset by higher-than-expected bookings, with booking volumes since November hitting an all-time high.”
The Miami-based cruise operator said the decision would impact is 2024 earnings by seven to eight cents a share, with most of the financial hit coming in the second quarter.
Earlier this month, Carnival rival Royal Caribbean said it had canceled two voyages in the Red Sea because of the safety concerns due to the attacks.
Numerous energy and shipping companies have halted traffic through the Red Sea because of missile and drone strikes on ships and oil tankers from areas controlled by the Houthis. The Iran-backed rebel group, based in Yemen, has said it is attacking ships that are supporting Israel’s war effort in Gaza.
Houthi attacks in December prompted BP to suspend oil shipments through the Red Sea, pushing oil prices higher in recent weeks, and resulted in a warning of possible product shortages by Ikea.
The group on January 26 fired a missile at a U.S. warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden, forcing it to shoot down the projectile, and also struck a British vessel as their aggressive attacks on maritime traffic continue. The attack marked a further escalation in the biggest confrontation at sea the U.S. Navy has seen in the Middle East in decades.
The U.S. military has launched airstrikes airstrikes against the Houthis since Jan. 11, after several weeks of attacks on commercial ships by the militant group.
Although experts have warned that an escalating conflict in the Red Sea and Suez Canal could drive up energy costs, for now the situation does not substantially alter the outlook for global inflation, according to EY senior economist, Lydia Boussour.
“However, a prolonged conflict with shipping costs staying as high through 2024 could add up to 0.7 percentage points to global inflation this year,” she said in a report to investors.
Goldman Sachs analysts note that global sea freight costs have jumped because of the shipping disruptions, but they don’t expect higher prices to feed through to consumers.
“[W]e see limited risk of such a resurgence because the rise in shipping costs is occurring against a relatively benign macro backdrop, reducing the scope for price increases to be amplified through the supply chain, and sea freight costs account for only a small share of the price of final consumption goods,” they wrote in a research note.
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1/29: CBS Evening News
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Houthis target U.S. destroyer in latest round of missile attacks; strike British merchant ship
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Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels launched a missile Friday at a U.S. warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden, forcing it to shoot down the projectile, and also struck a British vessel as their aggressive attacks on maritime traffic continue.
The attack on the destroyer USS Carney marked a further escalation in the biggest confrontation at sea the U.S. Navy has seen in the Middle East in decades.
The anti-ship ballistic missile was fired at about 1:30 p.m. local time Friday from Houthi-controlled Yemen toward the USS Carney, U.S. Central Command reported. The missile was shot down by the Carney and caused no damage or injuries.
A little over six hours later, on Friday evening, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations, which oversees Mideast waterways, acknowledged a vessel had been struck by a missile and was on fire in the Gulf of Aden.
The anti-ship ballistic missile struck the M/V Marlin Luanda — which is British-owned but flies under a Marshall Islands flag — at about 7:45 p.m. local time, CENTCOM reported.
The ship was damaged, but no injuries were reported, CENTCOM said, adding that the USS Carney “and other coalition ships have responded and are rendering assistance.”
The attack on the Carney represents the first time the Houthis directly targeted a U.S. warship since the rebels began their assaults on shipping in October, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because no authorization had been given to discuss the incident.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree did not acknowledge the Carney attack, but claimed the missile attack on the commercial vessel that set it ablaze, identifying the vessel as the Marlin Luanda.
The Houthi’s now-direct attacks on U.S. warships are the most aggressive escalation of its campaign in the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. The U.S. has tried to temper its descriptions of the Houthi’s strikes and said it is difficult to determine what exactly the Houthis are trying to hit, in part try to prevent the conflict from becoming a wider regional war.
The U.S. military has been conducting airstrikes against the Houthis to degrade their capabilities since Jan. 11, after several weeks of attacks on commercial ships by the militant group.
The U.S. has launched multiple rounds of two different types of airstrikes — those hitting a wider range of targets, like storage sites and radar capabilities, and also preemptive strikes aiming at Houthi missiles as they’re loaded onto launchers to prepare for an attack. This second category — colloquially referred to as “whack-a-mole” strikes — have become an almost daily occurrence.
But those U.S. attacks have not seemed to deter the Houthis. On Wednesday, Houthis launched anti-ship ballistic missiles at the U.S.-owned, flagged and operated commercial ship Maersk Detroit. The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Gravely shot down two missiles and a third fell into the water. There were no indications of damage or injuries in the attack.
Acknowledging Friday’s assault as a direct attack on a U.S. warship is important, said Brad Bowman, a senior director at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
“They’re now finally calling a spade a spade, and saying that, yeah, they’re trying to attack our forces, they’re trying to kill us,” he said.
Tempering the language and response, while aimed at preventing a wider war, has had the opposite effect of further emboldening the Houthis, Bowman said.
The attacks were the latest assaults by the rebels in their campaign against ships traveling through the Red Sea and surrounding waters, which has disrupted global trade amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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Since November, Houthi rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they were avenging Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade between Asia, the Mideast and Europe.
Since the airstrike campaign began, the rebels now say they’ll target American and British ships as well.
The U.S. Navy’s top Mideast commander told the Associated Press Monday that the Houthi attacks were the worst since the so-called Tanker War of the 1980s. It culminated in a one-day naval battle between Washington and Tehran, and also saw the U.S. Navy accidentally shoot down an Iranian passenger jet, killing 290 people in 1988.
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U.S. says 2 missing Navy SEALs considered dead after massive 10-day search in Arabian Sea
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Two Navy SEALs who went missing on Jan. 11 while on an interdiction mission are considered dead, the U.S. military said Sunday.
The SEALs were reported missing during a mission near the coast of Somalia to board a ship carrying Iranian weapons, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
Ships and aircraft from the U.S., Japan and Spain searched more than 21,000 square miles, CENTCOM said, adding that the search for the missing SEALs, who have not yet been publicly identified, has now been changed to a recovery effort.
Defense officials earlier told CBS News that the missing sailors went overboard while attempting to board the Iranian vessel. The SEALs were climbing up a vessel when one got knocked off by high waves in the Arabian Sea, the Associated Press reported. Under their protocol, when one SEAL is overtaken, the next jumps in after them.
“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example,” CENTCOM’s Gen. Michale Erik Kurilla said. “Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time.”
The U.S. military seized “advanced lethal aid” being sent to supply Houthi rebels in Yemen during the Jan. 11 raid, officials said last week. The initial analysis of the weapons found they were the types being used by the Houthis to attack commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
U.S. Military handout
The U.S. Navy sank the ship after it was deemed unsafe, Central Command said. The ship’s 14 crew were detained.
“This was not related to the strikes in Yemen,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said about the incident on “Face the Nation” last week. “This was normal interdiction operations that we’ve been conducting for some time to try to disrupt that flow of weapons supplies to Yemen.”
The Houthis have vowed to keep attacking ships they deem connected to Israel or Israel’s international allies. Houthi rebels, who control swaths of Yemen, justify the missile and drone launches as retaliation for the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Biden administration last week declared Yemen’s Houthi rebels to be a “specially designated global terrorist group.”
Tucker Reals contributed reporting.
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Behind the Houthis’ missile, drone attacks on shipping in the Red Sea
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A first-hand look inside a U.S. Navy destroyer stationed in the Mediterranean
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1/18: CBS Evening News
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Houthi rebels launch missile attack on yet another U.S.-owned commercial ship, Pentagon says
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For the third time this week, Yemen-based Houthi rebels Thursday launched missiles at a U.S.-owned merchant vessel, the Pentagon said, the latest in a slew of such attacks from the Iranian-backed militant group on commercial vessels in and around the Red Sea.
At about 9 p.m. local time Thursday, Houthi rebels launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles at the M/V Chem Ranger, a U.S.-owned ship that flies under a Marshal Islands flag, according to U.S. Central Command.
Both missiles landed in the water near the ship, CENTCOM said, and there were no reports of injuries or damage to the Chem Ranger.
CENTCOM did not confirm exactly where the ship was when the attack occurred.
Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,200 people and sparking the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Houthi rebels, who control large swaths of Yemen, have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in what they have said is an effort to support Palestinians.
After U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warned for weeks that there would be unspecified “consequences” for the Houthis, the U.S. on Jan. 12, launched the first of what would be several rounds of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Despite those missile strikes, the Houthis have vowed to continue their Red Sea assault.
Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
On Monday, the Houthis fired a missile at the M/V Gibraltar Eagle in the southern Red Sea, CENTCOM reported. There were no injuries or significant damage, but the missile did cause an inconsequential fire in the ship’s hold.
And on Wednesday night, a Houthi-fired drone struck the M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden, causing some damage but no injuries, CENTCOM said.
Both the Gibraltar Eagle and the Genco Picardy are U.S.-owned and sail under Marshal Islands flags.
President Biden indicated to reporters Thursday that the strikes against the Houthis would continue.
“When you say ‘working,’ are they stopping the Houthis? No,” Mr. Biden said. “Are they going to continue? Yes.”
On Wednesday, the State Department announced it was reclassifying the Houthis as a “specially designated global terrorist group.” That move reversed part of an earlier decision by the State Department in February 2021 that had removed that designation.
The White House has repeatedly accused Iran of being involved in the Houthis’ Red Sea attacks, allegations Tehran has denied.
However, the Pentagon on Tuesday said that, over the weekend, it seized a boatload of “advanced conventional weapons” sent from Iran to the Houthis.
— Olivia Gazis, Eleanor Watson and Tucker Reals contributed to this report.
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1/17: CBS Evening News
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1/16: CBS Evening News
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White House set to renew terrorist designation of Houthi rebels
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The Biden administration is expected to re-designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a specially designated global terrorist group (SDGT), a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News Tuesday. This comes amid the militia’s continuing attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The move would reverse the original decision made by the State Department in February of 2021 to remove the SDGT designation and de-list the Iran-backed Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Both designations were applied in the final days of the Trump administration to the Iran-backed group, which controls large portions of Yemen and has been engaged in a years-long civil war with the internationally-recognized, Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
A State Department official told CBS News at the time that the move was “due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
The SDGT designation is distinct from an FTO in that it carries different implications for the potential delivery of humanitarian aid. A foreign terrorist organization label can trigger sanctions for those who provide “material support” to a designated group.
The Associated Press first reported the administration’s expected move.
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Asked whether the U.S. would re-designate the Houthis as an FTO on Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the administration was “still in the process of reviewing” the matter.
Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,200 people and sparking the Israel-Hamas war, Houthi rebels have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea in what they have said is an effort to support Palestinians.
When asked by reporters on Jan. 12 whether the Houthis were a terrorist group, President Biden responded, “I think they are.”
Mr. Biden’s comments came on the same day that U.S. and U.K. forces, with support from Bahrain, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, launched their first round of airstrikes on dozens of Houthi sites in Yemen. American officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have warned for weeks of unspecified “consequences” for the rebels, while stressing the need to prevent the Gaza conflict from broadening across the Middle East.
On Monday, the Houthis continued their attacks by firing a ballistic missile at a U.S.-owned and operated container ship. There were no serious injuries or damage.
American officials said on Tuesday that the U.S. conducted pre-emptive strikes to destroy anti-ship ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. The militia later struck a merchant vessel, causing damage but no injuries.
“We fully anticipated, when we launched that salvo on Friday night, that the Houthis would probably conduct some retaliatory strikes,” Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the Jan. 12 operation. “We believe that we did have a good effect with those strikes in terms of disrupting and degrading their capability to conduct military offensive operations.”
The attacks have forced some ocean carriers to avoid the Red Sea entirely, leading to worldwide shipping disruptions.
The White House has repeatedly accused Iran of being involved in the Houthis’ Red Sea attacks, allegations Tehran has denied.
However, the Pentagon on Tuesday reported that, over the weekend, it seized a boatload of “advanced conventional weapons” sent from Iran to the Houthis.
U.S. Central Command’s Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla called it evidence that “Iran continues shipment of advanced lethal aid to the Houthis.”
— Eleanor Watson, Haley Ott and Tucker Reals contributed to this report.
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U.S. launches another strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen
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American forces conducted another airstrike on a Houthi-controlled site in Yemen early Saturday, U.S. officials confirmed.
U.S. Central Command reported that the USS Carney, a destroyer, conducted the strike at 3:45 a.m. local time Saturday on a Houthi radar site using Tomahawk missiles. No further details were provided, although Associated Press journalists in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, heard one loud explosion.
The airstrike came just a day after the U.S. and U.K. launched strikes on dozens of targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen in response to the Iranian-backed rebel group’s ongoing assault targeting shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
U.S. Central Command said Friday’s strikes hit more than 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations and that the targets included “command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems.”
U.S. Central Command/Anadolu via Getty Images
A Houthi military spokesperson said Friday’s attacks left at least five people dead and six wounded.
Despite the airstrikes, the Houthi movement’s Supreme Political Council vowed Friday to continue targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea. Thousands of demonstrators turned out in Sanaa Friday, burning U.S. flags and chanting “God is great, death to America, death to Israel.”
President Biden indicated to reporters Friday that the U.S. would fight back if Houthis retaliate.
“We will make sure to respond to the Houthis as they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” Biden said while conducting a small business tour in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
In a joint statement earlier Friday, the U.S., U.K., Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea, said the strikes were in response to “continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea.”
Since Nov. 19, there have been at least 28 attacks from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to CENTCOM. The attacks have prompted several giant shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal and transit around all of Africa instead.
On Jan. 9, Houthi rebels launched their largest such attack yet. A total of 18 drones, two-antiship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile were successfully shot down by U.S. and U.K. forces patrolling the Red Sea, with no injuries or damage.
The White House last month accused Tehran of being “deeply involved” in the Houthi’s Red Sea attacks, an allegation Iran’s deputy foreign minister denied. The Biden administration has focused on preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict from turning into a wider regional war across the Middle East, but since the war started, Iranian-backed proxies have been launching attacks both in the Red Sea and against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
There have been at least 130 attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, including at least three since Monday.
— Eleanor Watson, Jordan Freiman and Tucker Reals contributed to this report.
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After strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, concern grows of widening Middle East conflict
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Government funding deal in jeopardy as partial shutdown deadline looms
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U.S. and U.K. conduct strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen to retaliate for spate of attacks
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The U.S. and U.K. carried out strikes on targets in Yemen to retaliate for Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, President Biden announced in a statement Thursday night. The strikes were conducted with assistance from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.
“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Mr. Biden said, adding he will “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
Officials declined to say exactly where and what the strikes hit, but U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement the strikes, “targeted the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, uncrewed surface vessel, land-attack cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities.”
Austin, who has been hospitalized because of an infection related to surgery to treat prostate cancer, monitored the operation in real time from the hospital, according to a U.S. defense official. The official said Austin was “actively involved” and spoke with the president twice in the past 72 hours leading up to the operation.
A senior military official told reporters Thursday night the strikes were launched from air, surface, and sub-surface platforms.
The U.S. and other countries had previously warned the Houthis of consequences should the attacks, which started shortly after the Israel-Hamas war began, continue.
In a joint statement, the U.S., U.K., Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea, said the strikes were in response to “continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea.”
“These precision strikes were intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of international mariners in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” the statement said.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a statement called the strikes “limited, necessary and proportionate” and said the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain provided “non-operational support.”
A congressional source familiar with the matter on Thursday told CBS News that “the Biden administration briefed congressional leaders today on the plans to strike Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.”
A senior military official said that, as of Thursday night, the U.S. has not seen evidence that the Houthis had retaliated on any U.S., U.K., or other vessels in the Red Sea, but added they would not be surprised to see a response.
The Houthis launched one of the largest attacks in the Red Sea yet on Tuesday. Three U.S. destroyers along U.S. F-18s and a British warship shot down 18 drones and multiple missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Tuesday’s “complex attack,” as CENTCOM described it, occurred within a week of a joint statement from the U.S. and several other countries warning that the Houthis would face “consequences” if the attacks continued.
“The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the joint statement released by the White House last Wednesday said.
A senior administration official told reporters Thursday night that Mr. Biden convened his national security team following Tuesday’s attack, where he was presented with military response options. Mr. Biden directed Austin to carry out a response at the conclusion of that meeting, leading to Thursday’s strike, the official said.
Since Nov. 19, there have been at least 27 attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to CENTCOM. The attacks have prompted several giant shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal and transit around all of Africa instead.
In order to curb the impact on international trade, the U.S. along with several other countries launched a maritime task force “Operation Prosperity Guardian” to patrol the Red Sea. So far, the Houthis have not stopped their attacks.
The Biden administration has focused on preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict from turning into a wider regional war across the Middle East, but since the war started, Iranian-backed proxies have been launching attacks both in the Red Sea and against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon has tried to retaliate against other Iranian-backed militias for the steady drumbeat of attacks in Iraq and Syria without risking escalation, but the attacks have continued. There have been at least 130 attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17, including at least three since Monday.
Thursday’s strike is the first time the U.S. has conducted strikes against the Houthis since the attacks began in November.
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U.S. and U.K. launch strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen
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Missile fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen strikes merchant vessel in Red Sea, Pentagon says
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A U.S. destroyer patrolling in the Red Sea Saturday shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen while it was responding to a report that a commercial vessel was itself struck by a missile, U.S. authorities said.
According to U.S. Central Command, the container ship Maersk Hangzhou — which is Danish-owned but sails under a Singaporean flag — reported at 8:30 p.m. local time that it had been struck by a missile in the Southern Red Sea.
No one was hurt and the ship remained seaworthy, CENTCOM reported in a social media post.
However, while responding to assist the Maersk Hangzhou, the USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship missiles which had been fired from Yemen, CENTCOM said. The missiles appeared to have been directed at the USS Gravely and the USS Laboon, which was also responding to the Maersk Hangzhou, CENTCOM said.
The Iranian-backed Houthi militant group — which controls large portions of Yemen — has been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering at least 1,200 people and sparking the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
U.S. Central Command
According to CENTCOM, Saturday’s incident was the 23rd such attack by the Houthis on international shipping vessels since Nov. 19.
Earlier this month, CENTCOM reported that the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, shot down 14 attack drones suspected to have been fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen.
The White House last week accused Tehran of being “deeply involved” in the spate of Red Sea attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels, an allegation which Iran’s deputy foreign minister denied.
The Pentagon reported that on Dec. 23, a chemical tanker off the coast of India was struck by a drone which had been fired from Iran. That ship sailed under a Liberian flag and was Dutch-operated. No one was wounded.
And in a Nov. 15 interview with CBS News, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also denied that Iran was responsible for a drone fired from Yemen that was shot down by the guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner. The drone appeared to be targeting the Hudner, U.S. officials said at the time.
“We really didn’t want this crisis to expand,” Amir-Abdollahian told CBS News, referencing the Israel-Hamas war. “But the U.S. has been intensifying the war in Gaza by throwing its support behind Israel. Yemen makes its own decisions and acts independently.”
Last week, energy giant BP announced it was temporarily suspending all gas and oil shipments in the Red Sea because of the attacks.
Home furnishing giant Ikea also said that it could soon face shortages because major shippers were being forced to bypass the Red Sea, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and marks the shortest trade route between Europe and Asia, according to the Freights Baltic Index.
— Elizabeth Napolitano contributed to this report.
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Ikea warns of product delays and shortages as Red Sea attacks disrupt shipments
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Ikea is warning of possible shortages of some of its products as shipping companies bypass the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, because of mounting security threats in the region.
A number of major container carriers are diverting shipments from a key waterway that leads to the Suez Canal because of a series of attacks on vessels by Houthi militants from their bases in Yemen, data from freight shipping platform Freightos shows. The Iran-backed Houthis vowed last month to strike ships it suspects of having Israeli ties in a show of support for Hamas, the Gaza-based militia that has been at war with Israel since its Oct. 7 attack on the country.
“The situation in the Suez Canal will result in delays and may cause availability constraints for certain IKEA products,” the Swedish furniture retailer’s parent company, Inter IKEA Group, told CBS MoneyWatch on Thursday.
The company said it is evaluating its options to ensure the availability of its products. Ikea does not own any container vessels, and its transportation partners manage all the company’s shipments, an Inter IKEA Group representative noted.
More than 20 vessels have come under attack in the Red Sea since mid-November, according to Zev Faintuch, a senior intelligence analyst at global security firm Global Guardian. As a result, 19% of freight is now being diverted from the Suez Canal, the shortest trade route between Europe and Asia, according to the Freights Baltic Index.
In recent weeks, shipping giants including CMA CGA, Equinor, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, Orient Overseas and ZIM have all said they plan to avoid the Red Sea while the violence persists, and energy company BP said Monday it has suspended gas and oil shipments in the area.
Before the recent flurry of attacks in the region, 12% of global trade passed through the Suez Canal, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
The diverted shipments will now pass through an alternative route along Africa’s southern tip, adding days or weeks to shippers’ journeys. Shipping costs have jumped 14% since freight carriers moved to reroute around the Suez Canal because of the heightened risk of attacks, according to Freightos data.
“The impact of the trade diversions will be quite dramatic…[resulting in] longer lead times and higher costs until security is restored,” Freightos Chief Marketing Officer Eytan Buchman told CBS MoneyWatch.
Other retailers are also acting to protect their supply chains amid the threat to ships in the Red Sea. For example, clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is planning to shift to air freight to secure its supplies and avoid delays, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, efforts to improve security in the region are underway. The U.S. is forming a 10-nation coalition to quell Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said Monday in a statement.
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