Maersk to resume shipping routes through Red Sea and Suez Canal

Shipping giant Maersk has said it will take steps to resume operations through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal as soon as conditions allow, CEO Vincent Clerc announced on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference with the chief of the Suez Canal Authority in Egypt, Clerc said he had been buoyed by last month’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which he said would enable the company to freely navigate the Bab al-Mandab Strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Clerc said Maersk would resume transit via the Red Sea "as soon as conditions allow, with the safety of our crew as a top priority".

Reuters said a spokesperson for the Danish shipping and logistics company said the company had not set a date as to when it would resume the shipping route. The Suez Canal Authority said in a statement that it would partially resume transit via the canal in December, but Maersk has denied that statement.

The conditions in the Red Sea have been calmer since the Gaza ceasefire on 10 October, leading to an increase in traffic through the waterway, according to the canal authority this month.

Maersk ships had been targeted several times by Yemen's Houthis, but after an attack on 24 January 2024, Maersk decided to divert vessels away from the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea towards the southern tip of Africa. The Houthis say they began targeting ships in the region in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Over 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on the enclave, which began after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. 

The Houthis conducted more than 100 attacks on ships travelling in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab Strait from 2023 to 2024, prompting many shipping companies to switch to alternative routes. The drop in traffic from the Suez Canal is said to have cost Egypt around $7bn in revenues.

Divestment

In June, Maersk announced it was divesting from companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank after months of sustained pressure from pro-Palestine activists who demanded it cut ties with companies profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Maersk said it had decided to follow the guidelines of the United Nations high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), which maps out the names of companies operating in the settlements where around 500,000 Israelis live in contravention of international law. 

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The OHCHR, mandated to compile a list of businesses that both operate and sustain the settlements in the occupied West Bank, released a database in 2020 naming more than 100 companies contributing to human rights abuses against Palestinians. It was updated in 2023.

While activists welcomed the development at the time, they said that the company needs to halt the transportation of military equipment to Israel, including essential parts of its F-35 fighter planes, which have been used to flatten Gaza.

Activists have also said that Maersk has played a fundamental role in servicing the Israeli army during the war on Gaza.

Maersk has come under intense scrutiny by human rights groups in Denmark and from other parts of the globe for continuing to transport military components to Israel. 

In February, close to 1,000 activists demonstrated at its headquarters in Copenhagen. Protests have also taken place in New York and Morocco.

Maersk said in a statement in July that they have “maintained a strict policy of not shipping weapons or ammunition to Israel” other than F-35 parts. 

In the same statement, it also said they believed they were being smeared.

“It is a known and common tactic among some activist groups to attribute fabricated actions or viewpoints to an opponent or institutions and to use these misrepresentations to garner public attention and further support for their cause. This is what we are seeing unfold in the specific activist campaign currently targeting Maersk. The campaign is spreading inaccurate allegations.”