Many international shipping companies avoided the Red Sea amid fears of Houthi attacks (Reuters)

Navigation traffic through the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa increased by 67% last January compared to the previous December, and traffic rebounded in other corridors as a result of continued tension in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.

The Cape of Good Hope is a sea corridor linking Asia and Africa by circling the African continent on a path linking the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Cargo ships found in the Cape of Good Hope an alternative to the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, in which navigation began to falter due to the threat of the Yemeni Houthi group to target Israeli ships or those carrying goods for Israel in support of the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli aggression for about 4 months and has caused the death of more than 27 thousand Palestinians and more than 66 thousand others were injured, most of them children and women.

With the intervention of Washington, London, and other countries, they formed an alliance to prevent Houthi attacks in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Houthi group announced that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets.

At an intermittent pace since January 12, a US-led coalition has launched raids that it says target Houthi sites in various regions of Yemen, in response to its attacks in the Red Sea, which has been met with a response from the group from time to time.

In the face of these developments, alternatives to the most prominent trade route from East to West or vice versa began to appear, represented by the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the south of the Red Sea all the way to the Suez Canal, and from there to the Mediterranean Sea and then to Europe or the American eastern coast.

The American Customs Clearance Corporation website, and other data issued by international companies that track maritime traffic, such as Vessel Tracker, show the most prominent alternative shipping methods to the Red Sea, but all of them require a longer time to reach their final destination.

Alternative methods

First

: Direct shipping across the Pacific Ocean from Asian ports to the West Coast of the United States, which is a routinely used route for decades, for goods heading from East Asia to the West of the United States or vice versa.

This route may become an alternative to the eastern coasts of the United States, through the arrival of goods to the western American shores, and from there they move overland to their final destination in the eastern United States.

Second

: Land shipping along the China-Europe Express Railway (CRA), which is a land trade route made up of a railway extending from China through the countries of Central Asia, all the way to Europe.

However, goods heading from Asia to the American eastern markets may take this land route to Western Europe, and from there they move via ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean to their final destination.

Therefore, shipping companies that need to reach markets in Europe and the United States will find the land route provided by CRA a viable option. Goods can travel by direct rail from various production centers in China to multiple cities in Europe.

Average travel times range between 12 and 20 days from Asia to Europe depending on the final destination, compared to approximately two weeks from Asia to the far west of Europe via the Red Sea.

The American Customs Clearance Corporation says that since the start of the conflict in the Red Sea, trade movement along the CRA railways has increased by about 30%.

Third

: The most common alternative route for ships traveling from Asian ports to Europe and the eastern coast of North America, takes them around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.

According to data from the World Trade Organization, the route passing through the south of South Africa adds between a week and 10 more days for the goods to reach their final destination, whether to Europe or the American eastern coast.

Fourth

: The trade route from the Indian Ocean to the Strait of Hormuz, reaching the ports of the city of Basra (southern Iraq), from where it completes its journeys overland to reach Turkey and from there to Europe. From Turkey, goods also head overland, either to the Black Sea region for goods heading to Eastern Europe, or to the Mediterranean, or they continue their way overland via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line (838 km long, 76 km of which pass through Turkey, 295 in Georgia, and 503 km). In Azerbaijan). The line entered service on October 30, 2017, in cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, to be one of the most important transportation lines in the Silk Line extending from China to Europe.

Fifth

: For years, Russia has been promoting the Northern Sea Route extending along the Siberian coast, that is, bypassing Russia to the meeting point in Europe.

Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies + Anatolia Agency