Danish container shipping giant Maersk, the world's second largest container shipping company with 14.8% of trade, has announced that it is diverting two of its ships away from the Red Sea due to their Israel connections.
The ships diverted are the Lisa, coming from India and diverted to Salalah in Oman and the Maersk Pangani, coming from Cape Town in South Africa and redirected to Mundra in India. These measures have been takewn because both ships are linked to Israel. XT Group, owned jointly by Udi Angel (50%) and Idan Ofer (50%) is leasing them and Maersk is concerned that the ships represent targets for attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Haifa-based XT Group operates 18 ships and like the CMA and CGM Symi, which were two of the three ships attacked over the past 10 days, one of the owners is Idan Ofer.
Maersk told customers, "This decision has been made with careful consideration of various factors, prioritizing the safety of the crew, the vessel and your cargo. While we strive for seamless operations, these circumstances have necessitated this deviation from our usual route. Regrettably, the temporary route diversion, is anticipated to result in a delay exceeding one week from the initial delivery schedule."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 30, 2023.
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