Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk will pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Friday.
“Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice,” the company said in a statement.
Maersk on Thursday said its vessel Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.
The last I read, there were two carrier groups assigned to the area, but I don’t recall which assets were in the Med and which were in the Red Sea area. Clearly the ones shooting down the Houthi missiles and drones are the latter. Those classes of weapons do not pose a threat to these destroyers but do pose a threat to unarmed civilian vessels. It’s also a lot of territory to cover when you have to worry about all traffic.
I’m not sure why the US isn’t employing loitering drones that can ID and target mobile launch units more easily than shipboard weapon systems, but there must be a reason.