Source: AFP
Two other major shipping companies, Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM, said on Saturday they had suspended passage through a Red Sea strait vital to global trade after attacks by Yemeni rebels in the region.
The announcement by Italian-Swiss giant MSC and France’s CMA CGM follows a similar decision on Friday by two of the world’s biggest shipping companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, in response to a warning by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognized internationally, said they were targeting ships near the strategic Bab al-Madab strait to pressure Israel over its devastating war with Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
40 percent of the world’s international trade passes through the strait, which stretches between Yemen, at the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and the African continent.
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The tensions have raised fears that the conflict in Gaza could widen.
A US destroyer on Saturday shot down more than a dozen drones in the Red Sea that were launched from areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthis, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
And the UK government said one of its destroyers also shot down a suspected attack drone in the area.
MSC, one of the world’s largest cargo shipping lines, said one of its container ships had been targeted in the Red Sea on Friday and that it was halting traffic through the strait until it was safe.
No one on MSC Palatium III was injured, but the ship was damaged by fire, the company said.
CMA CGM said it had ordered all its ships to leave the area and remain there until further notice.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/4ea8f2df74c8ff1f.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/4ea8f2df74c8ff1f.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
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“The situation continues to deteriorate and there are increasing security concerns,” it said.
Source: AFP