MAERSK HANGZHOU, a ship belonging to top container carrier Maersk Line successfully repelled an attack by Yemen’s Houthi Group in the Red Sea on Sunday.
The incident comes less than a week after Maersk announced its gradual return to the Red Sea.
The attack occurred approximately 55 nautical miles southwest of Al Hodeidah, Yemen.
The U.S. Central Command, which reported the incident, said, “On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats. The small boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired crew served and small arms weapons at the MAERSK HANGZHOU, getting to within 20 meters of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel.
“A contract embarked security team on the MAERSK HANZGHOU returned fire. U.S. helicopters from the USS EISENHOWER (CVN 69) and GRAVELY (DDG 107) responded to the distress call and in the process of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats fired upon the U.S. helicopters with crew served weapons and small arms. The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defence, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area. There was no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment.“
Maersk later confirmed the incident in a statement.
“On December 30 at approximately 06:30 pm CET, when the vessel was 55nm southwest of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, the vessel was hit by an unknown object, however there was no indication of fire onboard and the vessel was able to continue its transit north. Maersk can also confirm that after the initial attack on the vessel, four boats approached the vessel and engaged fire in an expected attempt to board the vessel. A helicopter was deployed from a nearby navy vessel, and in collaboration with the vessel’s security team, the boarding attempt was successfully repelled.
“Maersk is currently working to ascertain the full details of the incident and is in close dialogues with OPG and authorities to assess the security level in the area,” the company said.
The 14,000 TEU Maersk Hangzhou is a Singapore-flagged vessel deployed on Maersk’s AE12-service between Europe and Asia.
“In light of the incident – and to allow time to investigate the details of the incident and assess the security situation further – it has been decided to delay all transits through the area for the next 48 hours.
“Ensuring the safety of our crew is our utmost priority, and all necessary security measures are implemented to protect them and the crew will receive all the support needed to handle this difficult and serious situation,” Maersk said.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
