Category Archives: Shipping industry

Ikea warns Red Sea attacks could disrupt supplies and deliveries

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Firm says it is weighing up options to secure product availability amid Yemeni rebel attacks on shipping

Ikea has warned that the disruption to global trade caused by Yemeni rebel attacks in the Red Sea could delay its deliveries and affect availability of some products.

The world’s largest furniture company said it was “evaluating other supply options to secure the availability of our products” after many big shipping companies stopped sending vessels through the Suez canal in response to the attacks by Houthi militants’ protests against the Israel-Gaza war.

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More than 100 container ships rerouted from Suez canal to avoid Houthi attacks

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Cape of Good Hope diversion adds 6,000 nautical miles and three or four weeks to delivery times and has driven up oil prices

More than 100 container ships have been rerouted around southern Africa to avoid the Suez canal, in a sign of the disruption to global trade caused by Houthi rebels attacking vessels on the western coast of Yemen.

The shipping company Kuehne and Nagel said it had identified 103 ships that had already changed course, with more expected to go around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

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US announces naval coalition to defend Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks

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Egypt and Saudi Arabia notably absent from Operation Prosperity Guardian as more shipping companies forgo route

The US has announced the creation of an enhanced naval protection force operating in the southern Red Sea in an attempt to ward off mounting attacks from Yemen’s rebel Houthis on merchant shipping.

Britain said it would be among the countries participating but notable absentees were Arab nations Egypt and Saudi Arabia while analysts speculated that shipping would continue to be disrupted and attacks continue.

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US to announce expanded protection force for Red Sea shipping

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Response to Houthi attacks from Yemen seeks to reassure commercial shipping companies suspending use of Red Sea

The US is to announce the launch of an expanded maritime protection force involving Arab states to combat the increasingly frequent Houthi attacks being mounted from Yemen’s ports on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The force, provisionally entitled Operation Prosperity Guardian, is due to be announced by the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, when he visits the Middle East, including the fifth fleet stationed in Bahrain. Similar to the Task Force 153 already operating out of Bahrain, the larger protection force is designed to provide reassurance to commercial shipping companies that Houthi attacks will be seen off, and the Red Sea remains safe for commercial shipping.

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Marles will ‘make right decision in Australia’s interest’ over deploying navy vessels to Red Sea, Farrell says – as it happened

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Up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs prevented from reaching Australia

Australian federal police and international law enforcement partners have prevented up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs from reaching Australia throughout the past financial year.

The AFP cannot overstate the amount of harm that 29 tonnes of methamphetamine could have caused to the community if it had not been intercepted by law enforcement.

On average, close to 12,000 Australians are hospitalised from methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin use every 12 months.

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Australia considers US request to send warship to Red Sea as Houthis target shipping lanes

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US navy request comes as Iran-aligned militia wade into the Israel-Hamas conflict, attacking vessels in commercial shipping lanes

The United States has asked Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea amid ongoing attacks on commercial shipping from Iran-backed militia.

The request, made recently, came from the US navy which wants the vessel to join an international taskforce, of which Australia is one of 39 member nations.

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Yemen’s Houthis warn ships in Red Sea to avoid Israel or face attack

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Attacks on vessels close to Yemen have led to a rise in the cost of shipping and fears that supply chains could be disrupted

A senior official from Yemen’s Houthis has warned cargo ships in the Red Sea to avoid travelling towards Israel and the occupied territories, after the Iran-aligned group claimed an attack on a commercial tanker earlier in the day.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said ships should avoid heading towards Israel and that any that pass Yemen should keep their radios turned on and quickly respond to Houthi attempts at communication.

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Yemen peace plan at risk over Houthi attacks in shipping channels, says US

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Diplomats say the group’s threats to merchant vessels it claims are linked to Israel jeopardise the deal

The US has warned Houthi rebels that the peace plan for Yemen that was negotiated with Saudi Arabia and handed to the UN peace envoy will fail if attacks on merchant shipping off the coast of Yemen continue.

The French defence ministry said on Tuesday that the French frigate Languedoc intercepted and destroyed a drone that was threatening the Norwegian oil tanker Strinda in a complex aerial attack originating from Yemen on Monday evening.

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Three commercial vessels attacked in Red Sea by Houthi rebels, says US

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US military says the destroyer Carney shot down three drones as US Central Command says they believe attacks ‘fully enabled by Iran’

Three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters in the southern Red Sea, the US military said on Sunday, as Yemen’s Houthi group claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area.

“Today there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea,” the statement from the US Central Command reads. “We have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran.”

This article was amended on Monday 4 December to correct a headline error that stated the three commercial vessels were US-owned.

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US warship rescues Israeli-linked tanker Central Park after attack in Gulf of Aden

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Ship boarded by gunmen – who fled and then surrendered when USS Mason arrived – in latest incident in region

A US warship rescued an Israeli-linked tanker that had been attacked by “armed individuals” in the Gulf of Aden, the US military has said, in the latest such incident to underscore the heightened risk to shipping in the region.

The USS Mason responded to a distress call by the Central Park tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday and demanded the ship’s release, US Central Command said.

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P&O Cruises and Cunard threaten to fire and rehire more than 900 UK staff

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Cruise firms could dismiss crew unless they accept salary cuts and flexible working arrangements

P&O Cruises and fellow cruise firm Cunard have made provision to fire and rehire more than 900 UK-based crew unless they accept salary cuts and more flexible working arrangements.

The affected crew include officers on the British flagship, the luxury ocean liner Queen Mary 2, and nine other ships operated under Carnival UK, which is part of the $18bn-listed Carnival group.

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DP World hack: Australian port operator hit by cyber-attack says cargo may be stranded for ‘days’

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DP World pulls plug on its internet connection after finding hackers inside its systems

Australia’s biggest ports operator, which has been the target of a cyber-attack, says it should be up and running again within days.

DP World Australia closed its Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle port operations after detecting the breach on Friday, leaving cargo and containers stuck on the docks.

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Maersk to cut 10,000 jobs as shipping demand drops

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Danish company has axed 6,500 of those roles already, with global economic slowdown taking toll

One of the world’s largest shipping companies, Møller-Maersk, is cutting 10,000 jobs because of a drop in demand triggered by the global economic slowdown.

The Danish company said it had already started cutting staff but was planning on “intensifying” cost-saving measures in order to safeguard its financial performance as price forecasts worsened.

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First cargo ship leaves Ukraine port since end of grain deal despite Russian threats

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Civilian vessel left port of Odesa and travelled down temporary corridor set up after Moscow pulled out of UN-backed Black Sea grain deal

A civilian cargo vessel has left Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa, Kyiv has said, despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target ships using the Black Sea export hubs.

The announcement raises the spectre of a standoff with Russian warships, after Moscow pulled out of a key deal last month brokered by the UN and Turkey, which guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments from three Ukrainian ports.

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Long delays at Panama Canal after drought hits global shipping route

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Number of vessels able to pass through each day limited because lower availability of water

Commercial ships are facing long queues and delays to travel through the Panama Canal as a lengthy drought in the Central American country has led to a cut in the number of vessels able to pass through one of the world’s most important trading routes.

In a fresh demonstration of the impact of the climate crisis on global business and trade, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which manages the waterway, introduced restrictions on the number of transiting vessels as a result of the drought.

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Yemen: UN removes 1m barrels of oil from ageing tanker to avert environmental catastrophe

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Tanker contained four times as much oil as was spilled in 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska

The transfer of more than 1 million barrels of oil from an ageing tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen has been completed, avoiding an environmental disaster, the UN has said.

In a statement on Friday, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for UN secretary general António Guterres, said the operation had prevented a “monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe”.

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Turning food into a weapon: how Russia resorted to one of the oldest forms of warfare

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With Russia blockading Ukraine’s eastern ports, an alternative route to the west is possible but faces serious problems

After failing to conquer Ukraine by conventional means, Russia tried an energy war, trying to hobble the power grid and freeze the nation into submission. Now it has launched a food war.

The mining of the Kakhovka dam in June threatens to turn southern Ukrainian farmland into a dustbowl. Since Moscow pulled out of an UN-brokered deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea last month, it has announced a naval blockade of the country’s ports, and directly targeted food (destroying 220,000 tonnes of cereals awaiting export in silos) on the sea coast but also inland with attacks over the past two weeks on the Danube ports of Reni and Izmail.

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Teamsters, UPS to resume negotiations next week ahead of looming strike

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If strike were to occur, it would be the largest walkout in US history at a single private employer, costing company $170m a day

The Teamsters and delivery giant UPS look set to return to the negotiating table next week as a strike deadline of 1 August approaches for 340,000 workers represented by the union to walk off the job if a new contract agreement isn’t reached by then.

On 5 July, contract negotiations broke down between the union and UPS as both sides are still apart on issues that include better starting pay for part-time workers, wage increases for full-time workers and more full-time roles.

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Shipping emissions could be halved without damaging trade, research finds

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Findings come as nations gather in London to discuss new carbon levy

Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping could be halved by 2030 without damaging trade, new research has found, as countries prepare to meet to discuss a potential new tax on carbon produced by ships.

Emissions from maritime transportation amount to about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and there are few alternatives to the cheap, heavy and dirty diesel oil used by ships.

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Home Office planning to house asylum seekers on disused cruise ships

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Exclusive: Ministers facing growing anger from Tory backbenchers over use of hotels in their constituencies

The Home Office is planning to use disused cruise ships to house asylum seekers amid growing anger from Conservative backbenchers over the use of hotels in their constituencies.

Ministers are looking at possible vessels including a former cruise ship from Indonesia, which would be moored in south-west England, the Guardian understands.

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