Maersk Pauses Red Sea Shipping for 48 Hours after Attack on Vessel

Maersk has paused all sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours, the shipping giant announced on Sunday, saying that “Houthis” attacked its Hangzhou merchant vessel this morning in the southern Red Sea

The Danish shipping company said the attack took place after merchant vessel passed through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait en route from Singapore to Port Suez, Egypt.

Around 6:30am (03:30 GMT), the Singapore-flagged vessel was southwest of Hodeidah, Yemen when the crew observed a flash on deck, Maersk said.

For its part, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its navy helicopters sank three of four small boats used by what it called Houthi fighters to attack the vessel.

The crew onboard the Maersk ship reported a flash on deck on Dec 31 at around 1830 CET, when the vessel was 55 nautical miles southwest of Al Hodeidah, the CENTCOM said in a statement posted on X.

“Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely, responding to distress calls from Maersk Hangzhou, returned fire on the Houthi boats in self-defense and sank three of the vessels, with no survivors,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) added.