CMA CGM has suspended transits in the Red Sea after US authorities said one of its ships was the “likely target” of a Houthi attack.
A source familiar with the French liner giant confirmed to TradeWinds that it has suspended all crossing of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and has been within firing range of Houthi weapons.
The decision came a day after a convoy with two of the company’s boxships came under fire in the Red Sea.
On Thursday, the US military’s Bahrain-based Central Command said the 8,600-teu Koi (built 2011) was the likely target when two anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
The ship is operated by CMA CGM and owned by Oceanix Services, a UK-registered company controlled by a fund advised by JP Morgan Asset Management, according to data from Equasis, UK Companies House and the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
While some other liner operators had already suspended transits in the region, CMA CGM had continued to take some vessels through the embattled shipping lane that connects the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal.
After initially targeting ships with links to Israel, the Houthi movement has increasingly turned its attention to vessels with ties to the US and UK, which have led air and naval strikes against targets in Yemen.
Maritime security firm Ambrey Analytics said the Iran-backed Houthis have widened their targets and their area of operations.
“An unprecedented international naval response has degraded their capabilities, but the Houthis have continued to attack shipping,” the firm said on Friday. “As affiliated vessels reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, risk levels on other routes increase as weapon capability also improves.”
And the firm said the international military presence in the region will not ensure safe passage.
“As merchant shipping has been rerouted, the pool of available targets with these specific kinds of affiliations in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden will likely contract, and they could well expand the scope of operations, as evidenced by their attacks on Israeli shipping,” Ambrey said.
“Recent attacks have expanded beyond the southern Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Longer-range attacks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in recent years indicate the Houthis can widen this further.”
