British oil giant and multinational British Petroleum (BP) will suspend its tanker traffic through the Red Sea. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing a statement from the company. "In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily suspend all transits through the Red Sea," the company said.
The British oil and gas giant's decision to suspend all transit through the Red Sea comes after attacks in recent weeks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on ships transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa, vital for commercial shipping. BP joins several global shipping giants who decided to suspend shipping in the Red Sea on Friday and Saturday. In a statement to AFP, BP said that "in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Red Sea, it has decided to temporarily suspend all transit through that stretch of sea."
The giant CMA CGM, France's leading shipping company, has already suspended - like the MSC, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd groups - the crossing of the Red Sea by its container ships. The group "decided to order all CMA CGM cargo vessels in the region that need to cross the Red Sea to go to safe areas" and not to leave the waters deemed safe, "with immediate effect and "until further notice," according to a press release.
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