Helsinki — Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk will pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Friday.
“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 company said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday Maersk denied a claim by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia had struck a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
“The vessel was not hit,” a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.
Maersk said the company was deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
“The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers,” it wrote in the statement.
Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, writing by Anne Kauranen, editing by Terje Solsvik – Reuters
