Dec 18 (Reuters) – Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have stepped up attacks on vessels in the Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza.
The attacks, targeting a route that allows East-West trade, especially of oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa, have pushed some shipping companies to re-route vessels to avoid the area.
Below are companies (in alphabetical order) that are considering or have decided to pause shipping via the Red Sea:
BP
Oil major BP on Dec. 18 said it had temporarily paused all transits through the Red Sea.
CMA CGM
French shipping group CMA CGM on Dec. 16 said it was pausing all container shipments through the Red Sea.
EQUINOR
Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinor on Dec. 18 said it had re-routed some vessels that had been heading towards the Red Sea.
EURONAV
Belgian oil tanker firm Euronav said on Dec. 18 it would avoid the Red Sea area until further notice.
EVERGREEN
Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen said on Dec. 18 its vessels on regional services to Red Sea ports would sail to safe waters nearby and wait for further notification, while ships scheduled to pass through the Red Sea would be re-routed around the Cape of Good Hope. It also temporarily stopped accepting Israeli cargo.
FRONTLINE
Norway-based oil tanker group Frontline said on Dec. 18 that its vessels will avoid passages through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in the time ahead, boosting the rates customers must pay for crude transport.
HAPAG-LLOYD
German container shipping line Hapag Lloyd said on Dec. 18 it would re-route several ships via the Cape of Good Hope until the safety of passage through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea could be guaranteed.
A projectile believed to be a drone struck its vessel Al Jasrah on Dec. 15, while sailing close to the coast of Yemen. No crew were injured.
MAERSK
Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk on Dec. 15 said it would pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, following a “near-miss incident” involving its vessel Maersk Gibraltar a day earlier.
The ship was targeted by a missile while traveling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the company said.
MSC
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said on Dec. 16 its ships would not transit through the Suez Canal, with some already rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope, a day after Houthi forces fired two ballistic missiles at its MSC Palatium III vessel. The decision will disrupt sailing schedules by several days, the Switzerland-based group said.
OOCL
Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has stopped cargo acceptance to and from Israel until further notice, theshipping company owned by Hong Kong-based Oriental Overseas (International) Ltd 0316.HK said on Dec. 16.
YANG MING MARINE TRANSPORT
Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport said on Dec. 18 it would divert ships sailing through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden via the Cape of Good Hope for the next two weeks.
(Reporting by Paolo Laudani, Izabela Niemiec and Jesus Calero in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi and Jason Neely)
Police in Winona Minnesota are stunned after every single one of their Flock cameras were suddenly removed in a single night.
According to the police department, all 8 of the town's cameras were cut down and hauled away.
Police are asking for the public's help to identify the individual, but the public has been responding with comments such as:
"The Flock cameras tore themselves down"
"Whoever did it, was fishing with me"
"Whoever it was, was at Bible study with me"
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Nearly 20,000 people are publicly vouching for a man accused of cutting down Flock cameras in a small West Virginia town.
People commented:
"He was saving my neighbor's dog from a fire all day, couldn't be him."
"This man is innocent. I saw him serving at a soup kitchen."
-"Couldn't be him. He was helping me replace the roof on a homeless shelter."
The man, Wesley Jackson, has pleaded Not Guilty.
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US diesel crack surpasses $100 a barrel for the first time on supply disruptions
... and the supply of refined fuels is already nearly exhausted. A hard landing is visible ahead, for farmers, for trucking, and ... well, for everything that requires food (people) and energy (the entire economy).
These are very likely the final days of relative normalcy during which to prepare. Get ready.
🌾 🌍 🚜 JPMorgan warns a massive global food supply crisis could begin next year as fertilizer shortages tighten agricultural supply.
JPMorgan is the latest institutional research desk to warn that the next global food crisis may already be taking shape, driven by what its analysts describe as the "Five Ws": War, Weather, Warehousing, Water, and Waste.
In a new report titled Food Security Is National Security: A Compounding Storm, a team led by London-based senior global economist Nora Szentivanyi warned that disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and the emergence of a potentially historic El Niño could weaken crop yields, constrain agricultural production, and keep food inflation elevated through the first half of 2027.
"Successive shocks since COVID have compounded, eroding food production capacity and keeping food price pressures elevated into 2027," Szentivanyi said, warning that "this is not a short-lived shock; it has reduced the likelihood of near-term disinflation, and the food ...