Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) will pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice and send them on a detour around Africa, 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.
Earlier on Friday Maersk denied a claim by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia had struck a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.
“The vessel was not hit,” a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.