Home GCC World’s fifth biggest shipping firm steers clear of Red Sea German shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd will continue to circle around the Cape of Good Hope as issues in the Red Sea remain by Reuters January 9, 2024 Credit: Getty Images Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd will continue to divert its vessels away from the Suez Canal and around the Cape of Good Hope for security reasons, a spokesperson for the company said on Tuesday. “We deem the situation still dangerous,” the spokesperson for the world’s fifth-biggest container liner said. “We have daily re-assessments and will have next decisions taken Monday January 15.” Like rivals, Hapag-Lloyd is avoiding the Red Sea area after Yemen’s Houthi militant group began targeting commercial vessels, disrupting global trade, to show their support for Hamas. READ MORE: How could Red Sea tensions affect oil and gas shipping? Container ships and gantry cranes Red Sea attacks not impacting retailers Meanwhile, British discount chain B&M does not expect any material impact from disruption to shipments through the Suez Canal due to attacks by Yemeni Houthi militants in the Red Sea, its CEO said on Tuesday. “I don’t expect any material impact for us,” Alex Russo told Reuters. “The supply chain for us has sufficient in-built flexibilities so I don’t expect any impact coming into our business,” he said after FTSE 100 retailer updated on Christmas trading. Global shipping firms are avoiding the Red Sea route and diverting shipments around Africa’s southern Cape of Good Hope. Last week, British clothing retailer Next said its sales growth will likely be moderated if the disruption continues. However, B&M, which sells everything from furniture and electrical items to clothing, footwear and toys and is a high volume customer to the main shipping lines, is confident it will not face product availability issues. “I am not going to face any delays that will affect my availability and our customer because my supply chain has in-built flexibility,” Russo said. “Whatever longer route trajectory we take we have enough buffers in our supply chain lead times to basically not impact us. Tags Red Sea shipping You might also like Shipping giant Maersk says Red Sea disruption could cut Asia-Europe capacity by 20% Red Sea tensions: Another cargo ship targeted in Gulf of Aden IMF cuts MENA growth outlook on geopolitical tensions, trade disruptions Fujairah marine fuel bunker sales hit new records