On Thursday afternoon, the container ship Maersk Gibraltar, operated by the Danish shipping company Maersk, was attacked by a missile. Maersk has confirmed that the ship was indeed attacked.
"Maersk is in the process of learning about the incident that occurred in relation to the Maersk Gibraltar, which was traveling from Salalah, Oman, to the port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the safety of the crew and the vessel. Maersk is still working to establish the facts of the incident." A Maersk spokesperson said, "The safety of our crew and vessel is our top priority and we are taking all possible safety measures to ensure they are protected from harm."
Thankfully the missile did not hit the ship, and the Danish shipping company appealed to the situation: "The recent attacks on merchant ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait are very worrying. The current situation jeopardizes the lives of seafarers and is unsustainable for global trade. As the global shipping industry cannot solve this problem alone, we are calling for political action to ensure the situation de-escalates quickly."
According to the UK Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO), the attack took place near the Bab-el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea. the UKMTO wrote: "Ships are advised to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity."
This makes the Danish shipping group the latest in a series of shipping companies to be attacked near the Red Sea in the past month. Prior to the missile attack, the vessel was reportedly ordered by the Houthis to change course and sail into Yemeni waters without turning on the ship's positional AIS since Nov. 20.It was en route from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"The Maersk Gibraltar was built in 2016 under the Hong Kong, China flag with a capacity of 10,100 TEU. the vessel is managed by SEASPAN SHIP MANAGEMENT LTD.
The ship serves Maersk's Europe - Middle East (Europe - Middle East) ME2 route, when the incident is performing 405 voyages, involving HAMBURG SÜD, MAERSK, MCC, SEAGO, SEALAND shipping company common cabin.
Meanwhile, UKMTO reported that on the afternoon of December 14, in the Arabian Sea, about 400 nautical miles east of Socotra Island, a distress signal was received by a cargo ship via VHF (Very High Frequency) with unidentified persons on board. No other details were given, nor the name of the ship. Most likely, it was the Bulgarian bulk carrier RUEN, whose coordinates corresponded to those given by UKMTO, en route from Singapore to Turkey.
On Wednesday evening, the Irish shipping company Ardmore was attacked. Only a few days earlier, the Norwegian ship "MT Strinda" had suffered a similar attack.
The previous attack was carried out by Houthi forces in Yemen, who warned ships not to sail to Israel after the war in the Gaza Strip. It is unclear who attacked the Danish vessel.
Back at the end of November, Maersk announced that it had rerouted a number of ships due to threats in the Red Sea. These were the two container ships Lisa and Maersk Pangani, which were told to implement new sailing plans to avoid sailing in the Red Sea.
According to a customer briefing, the changes were due to "unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances". However, Maersk told ShippingWatch that the Danish shipping group has changed its routes due to the ongoing violent conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
