The Israel-Hamas war

 

 

The Israel-Hamas war|The attacks in the Red Sea 

Stopped ships begin to take new routes after the attacks  

 

Danish shipping giant AP Møller-Mærsk resumes freight traffic, but redirects all ships to take the route around Africa instead. This after all traffic through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal was stopped on Friday as a result of attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, reports CNBC. 

 

The route around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope takes about two weeks longer than via the Suez Canal. As 30 percent of global container shipping goes via the Suez Canal, the redirection is expected to have consequences for delivery prices, shipping capacity and also insurance costs.  

 

Analysts at the major bank UBS estimate that the route change could cut shipping capacity between Asia and Europe by 25 percent. 

 

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Analysis: World economy well equipped for shipping crisis now  

 

The fact that the shipping companies stop the routes through the Red Sea after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels' attacks on the cargo ships risks making world trade more expensive and slower. But the timing for shipping problems is good and the risk that it will shake the world economy is low, according to Bloomberg analyst Brendan Murray.  

 

- There is room in the system to absorb disturbances right now. If there would ever be a time to deal with a capacity shock like this, it is now, he says in Bloomberg's podcast Daybrake Europe.  

 

Murray compares the situation to the grounding of the container ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal in 2021, which created major problems in supply chains. He believes that world trade was then already pressed close to its capacity limit, which is not the same way now.  

 

However, if the crisis were to spread and affect oil shipping in the nearby Arabian Sea, the economic consequences would be significantly more serious, writes The Economist.

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The Israel-Hamas war|The reactions  

Sources: Negotiations are ongoing but a vote may not take place  

 

Even Tuesday's planned vote in the UN Security Council on some type of ceasefire in Gaza may be postponed, reports AFP with reference to diplomatic sources. 

 

According to several media, negotiations are currently underway regarding how a resolution should be formulated in detail, without it being voted down again.  

 

At the same time, China is urging the US to reconsider, after the country vetoed a resolution on an immediate ceasefire just over a week ago. According to NBC, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin says Washington must stop "single-handedly" blocking resolutions on a ceasefire. 

 

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Voting postponed for US to accept choice of words  

 

The UN Security Council decided last night to postpone the vote on a resolution on some form of ceasefire in Gaza. A vote would actually have taken place yesterday. But according to sources, the United Arab Emirates, which initiated the draft, has requested more time. The goal is to reach a formulation that the US stands behind and avoid another US veto like the one last week.  

 

The Guardian writes that the United States will not stand behind a wording that the violence must stop, but that the country can conceivably accept a wording that is less definitive, such as that the violence must be stopped. 

 

Resolutions in the UN Security Council are, unlike the UN General Assembly, binding on member states.