Shipping companies stopped using routes across the Red Sea and the Suez Canal because the Houthi group targeted ships heading towards Israel (Reuters)

A spokesman for German shipping container company Hapag Lloyd told Reuters on Friday that the company would continue to divert its ships from the Suez Canal for security reasons.

The spokesman added that the next assessment of the situation will be made on the second of next January.

More than a week ago, the German company said it would reroute 25 of its vessels until the end of this year to avoid sailing in the Red Sea.

A company ship was attacked near Yemen on December 15 en route to Singapore.

This month, major shipping companies such as Hapag Lloyd and Maersk stopped using routes through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal because the Houthi group targeted ships bound for Israel to press for aid to enter Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, after the occupation prevented its entry following the Al-Aqsa flood, causing significant damage to global trade.

These companies began diverting ships to the Cape of Good Hope route to avoid attacks, increasing fees required of customers and adding days or weeks to the time to transport goods from Asia to Europe and to the east coast of North America.

The chief executive of Israel's Eilat port, Gideon Gulber, said earlier that the port's activity had fallen 85 percent since Yemen's Houthis intensified their attacks on ships bound for Israel in the Red Sea.

About 10 percent of oil trade and 8 percent of liquefied natural gas trade pass through the Suez Canal, including about two-thirds of crude from the Gulf region.

About 30% of the world's shipping containers pass daily through the 193-kilometer-long Suez Canal and about 12% of the world's total trade is of all goods.

The share of goods coming from the south of the canal - transiting through the Bab al-Mandab Strait - is about 47% of the volume of goods transiting the Suez Canal, according to statistics from the Suez Canal Authority.

In addition, about 98% of goods and ships coming from the south of Egypt's Suez Canal pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait in Yemen.

Source : Al Jazeera + Agencies