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The United States and its allies were unable to stop Houthi attacks from Yemen on civilian cargo ships in the Red Sea despite the expensive equipment it allocated to the naval mission, according to what Bloomberg indicated in a report today.

As a result, the world's largest shipping companies still largely avoid the route that once carried 15% of global trade.

Setback

The agency believed that the Houthis' success in thwarting the most advanced armies in the world is the latest setback to Washington's efforts to limit the regional expansion of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, which began on the seventh of last October.

The Houthi group says that it targets Israeli ships or those heading to Israel, but the formation of an alliance by the United States of America and Britain with other countries to attack the Houthis prompted them to target their ships as well.

The Houthi attacks, which sank its first civilian ship in early March and claimed its first casualties shortly after, pose a growing threat to the global economy.

The number of ships sailing through the southern Red Sea decreased by about 70% compared to the beginning of December, container shipping decreased by approximately 90%, and gas tankers almost stopped transporting.

Sailing around Africa adds about two weeks to the journey, and as a result, the cost of sending a container from Shanghai in China to Rotterdam in the Netherlands is about double what it was the previous year, according to Drury Shipping Company.

The Galaxy Leader ship was seized by the Houthis at the beginning of their operations (Al Jazeera)

More than three months after the launch of a major maritime police operation, Admiral Mark Miguez, commander of the participating fleet, acknowledged that the United States and its allies have more work to do.

“We know we have reduced some of their capabilities,” he added, standing on the navigation bridge aboard the Eisenhower, but as Houthi backers in Iran continue to send money, weapons and intelligence, including from a spy ship sailing hundreds of miles from the Eisenhower out of the Red Sea. Directly, it will not predict when the task will be completed.

Slow down attacks

Miguez points to the slowdown in Houthi attacks and the shift from cruise missile attacks to less dangerous drones as evidence that the operation is exhausting the group, but this has not been comforting for shipping companies.

“It's a completely binary situation,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Happen Janssen said when announcing earnings this month. “Either (the Red Sea water) is safe for our workers or it is not. As long as the situation is unsafe, we will not send our workers across the Red Sea.” ".

He said he hopes the unrest will subside in the next few months, but acknowledges that others in the field fear it will continue into 2025.

Clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch recently dropped its forecast for lower shipping costs this year, due to the Red Sea turmoil.

H&M postpones some campaigns due to the Red Sea crisis

In the latest measures taken by global companies affected by the Red Sea turmoil, Daniel Erver, CEO of H&M - the world's second largest listed fashion retail chain - said on Wednesday that the company had postponed the start of some spring and summer campaigns to adapt to shipping delays resulting from the crisis. The Red Sea.

He added to Reuters: “We made some short-term adjustments to the start date and launch date of the campaigns,” explaining that the impact on what is available to customers is minor.

He pointed out that the duration of the postponement will vary from one country to another, but it may reach about two weeks in some markets.

Shipping companies avoided passing through the Suez Canal after Houthi attacks led to container ships changing their course to take the Cape of Good Hope route. This increased shipping costs and caused delays in goods and merchandise

Source: Bloomberg + Reuters