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“The situation in the Suez Canal will cause delays and may limit the availability of some Ikea products,” the company wrote to news agency AFP on Thursday. Previously, a wave of attacks on container ships in Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels had prevented many cargo ships from passing through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
The Red Sea and the Suez Canal are the central trade routes of world trade; Approximately 20,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal every year. If container ships instead went around the southern tip of Africa en route between Asia and Europe, the journey could take a week longer, and the detour would also incur additional fuel costs running into hundreds of thousands of euros.
Ikea stated that it is in close contact with transportation companies and that the safety of its workforce is a top priority. “In the meantime, we are examining other delivery options to ensure the availability of our products and will continue to monitor the situation closely,” the group said.
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the radical Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, Houthi militias in Yemen have repeatedly fired drones and rockets at Israel and, most recently, attacked ships in the Red Sea several times. Yemen is located in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Due to repeated attacks, many shipping companies, including the Swiss company MSC, recently announced that they would stop ship voyages through the Bosphorus.
Houthi rebels are threatening to attack any ship bound for Israel unless more food and medicine are allowed to be transported to the Gaza Strip. A senior Houthi official on Tuesday reiterated that the rebels will continue their attacks despite an international military coalition formed to secure maritime trade in the Red Sea.
(SDA)
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
