Red Sea shipping crisis: Freeport in contact with customers during ‘extraordinary situation'

Malta Freeport Terminals is in close contact with its clients amid escalating attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the company said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the company said several container ships are due to call in Malta in the coming days following an enforced diversion of certain global shipping services due to attacks on vessels in the Red Sea sailing through the Suez Canal.

“This is an extraordinary situation,” Freeport CEO Alex Montebello said. “Some services are managing to transit through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and these are calling at the Freeport, but certain others are having to take an alternative route round the Cape of Good Hope and bypassing the Mediterranean altogether.”

Montebello said flexibility is key in this scenario, and the Freeport is in constant contact with its customers.

“Serving our clients remains our top priority, and we are doing our best to adapt to their needs.”

Travelling through the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea has become a risky endeavour for commercial ships after the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen have been conducting attacks on these vessels with an intention to target ships heading or linked to Israel.

Following these attacks and the potential for future threats, major shipping companies like the Mediterranean Shipping Company and Maersk have rerouted their vessels on a significantly longer path around the Cape of Good Hope in the south of Africa and then up the west side of the continent. 

The Chamber of SMEs said the impact is already being felt in Malta. Shipping companies have raised their rates even before the new year started, with 20-foot containers experiencing a 20% increase in price and 40-foot containers a 24% hike.