Houthi Rebel Attacks and Rerouting of Red Sea Cargo

As a result of the Houthi rebel rocket attacks on cargo ships, shipping lines have changed routings to avoid the Red Sea and Suez canal. On a global basis this is having a huge impact on transits time and costs for cargo sailing between Europe and the Far East. However, there is little impact on SA bound cargo at this point as most European and Mediterranean routes to and from South Africa are via the west coast of Africa. Where the impact will be felt is through the chaos this is causing on global schedules, vessel changes, blank sailings and changed to port operations. We are already seeing European ports becoming seriously congested as a result of schedule disruptions. There is no doubt that the current Red Sea Crisis, global port congestion and current space restrictions will lead the lines to drive out freight increases which we are aggressively negotiating on our routed cargo. Be assured that SCT is paying close attention to these very fluid scenarios and will keep you updated.