It has become profitable for shipping companies to announce that they will stop dealing with Israeli ports, and to announce this publicly to their ships, via navigation information devices, during their passage in the Red Sea, especially after the steps taken by major shipping companies, the latest of which was from Maersk today.

Chinese benefit

The Israeli economic newspaper Globes reported that the decision of the Chinese shipping company COSCO, which was revealed two weeks ago, not to visit Israeli ports; It sparked international interest and concern, but today it indicated, in a report, the extent to which China would benefit from the step.

This comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions at the southern entrance to the Red Sea at the Strait Bab al-Mandab By attacks Houthi group Which it says targets Israeli ships heading to Israel Just; In the development of its war on Gaza stripAs a result, the United States and Britain responded with raids on Houthi sites. This fueled tensions in the region.

According to Lloyd's List shipping news magazine, the decision of major shipping lines, led by the Danish shipping group Maersk, to avoid passage in the Red Sea as of last December 17, led to a decrease in the number of ships crossing the route from more than 100. Weekly to below 36.

The Israeli Newspaper Confirmed that avoiding the Red Sea, through which 12% of global trade passes, would mean a longer journey of two or three weeks via the Cape of Good Hope route.

According to the newspaper, the biggest beneficiaries of this decline in the movement of cargo ships in the Red Sea are small companies whose ships declare that they are not affiliated with Israel, which is what the Houthis are demanding, as well as Chinese-owned ships, which have increased in proportion to the total number of ships passing through the Red Sea.

Economic benefit

The newspaper saw that the Chinese approach shows, beyond any doubt, that in addition to the pressures that the Chinese seek to impose on Israel, they are also interested in the economic benefit arising from the fact that European importers from the East who want short supply chains have become heavily dependent on shipping lines. Chinese.

The Israeli newspaper confirmed that the much shorter route through the Red Sea compared to the Cape of Good Hope also ensures an abundance of Cusco ships more than its competitors.

In a related context, the Danish Maersk Shipping Group will divert the ME2 container service route away from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the Cape of Good Hope, as it informed its customers, in an advisory note today.

This service connects Italy and the western Mediterranean with the eastern coast of India and the Emirates.