Due to the uncertain situation in the Red Sea, Germany's largest container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd intends to divert around 25 ships by the end of the year.

All ships that were planned for the Red Sea and the Suez Canal until December 31 will be sent to other routes, a company spokesperson explained on Thursday in response to an inquiry. Further decisions would be made by the end of the year. Hapag-Lloyd had already generally announced that it would divert several ships to the longer route via the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa. The Hapag-Lloyd ship "Al Jasrah", which was attacked near Yemen on December 15, was on its way to Singapore, the spokesman added.

In Yemen, the Huthi rebels have declared their solidarity with the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip and have repeatedly attacked ships off the coast under their control. Other major shipping companies such as MSC and Maersk have also drawn consequences from attacks on ships in the area. The Suez Canal is an important shortcut for the sea route between Asia and Europe in particular. Hapag-Lloyd does not yet have any detailed information on the international alliance proclaimed by the USA to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea, the spokesman added.

(Report by Vera Eckert, written by Elke Ahlswede; Edited by Hans Busemann; If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)).