Cargo ships abandon the Red Sea
Thanks to anti-ship missiles from Yemen, five major shipping companies have suspended services in the Red Sea; Maersk, CMA CGM, OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd, and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Some like Hong-Kong based OOCL handle a lot of shipping from China. Between them these companies represent 53% of global container trade. almost all of it going between Europe and Asia.
Despite the USA and a large ranges of allies sending destroyers into the area to shoot down drones, the shipping giants have decided avoidance of the Red Sea is the best course of action as insurance costs have soared for routes through the Red Sea.
Instead, as you can see from the following shipping map, western-bound ships have turn south and are heading to South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
Lots of trade analysts are fretting about this as it adds thousands of nautical miles and about 10 extra days sailing time to the journey. However, they get to save the six-figure fee required to go through the Suez Canal.
Fortunately, the Christmas buying season is over and we're entering the quiet period between Christmas and New Year.
Going forward, firms will have to factor in the longer journey when ordering. I also wonder whether China will send goods overland through their belt-and-road infrastructure. After all, they built it for situations like this.