The rerouting of container shipping routes along the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope could increase transit times by 30%, consultancy firm Linerlytica has said.
Hundreds of large vessels are rerouting around the southern tip of Africa, a longer route adding 10-14 days of travel, to escape drone and missile attacks by Yemeni Houthis that have pushed up oil prices and freight rates.
Linerlytica said more non-Israel-linked ships could join the Red Sea exodus after Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and HMM announced in the past week that they would pause their ships’ journeys in the Red Sea.
The alternative route via the Cape would raise round trip transit times by three to five weeks, with ships to the East Mediterranean having to make the longest diversions.
The last three weeks have seen 42 Israeli-linked ships rerouted away from the Suez Canal, according to Linerlytica. Twenty of these ships on the Asia-Mediterranean and Asia-North Europe routes will detour round the Cape of Good Hope while another 22 ships have been reassigned to other trades that avoid the Red Sea.
There are 8.25 million TEU of container ships on the Suez route currently, translating into 9.3% of the global fleet.
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