Shipping industry sources said on Tuesday that an attack The Houthis On a dry bulk ship in the Red Sea this week could lead to the rerouting of more grain shipments towards the Cape of Good Hope, although most are still willing to risk using the Suez Canal.
The US Central Command said yesterday, Monday, that the Houthi group in Yemen bombed the ship (Eagle of Gibraltar), which is owned and operated by an American company, with an anti-ship ballistic missile, but the ship did not report any casualties or serious damage.
Dry bulk ships are usually used to transport grain, although the Gibraltar Eagle was carrying a cargo of steel products.
The head of the bulk vessels sector at a German trading company said, “This week’s attack is certainly seen as an escalation against the bulk vessels and their owners. Concern is growing, and I am sure that it will cause much larger shipments, including grain shipments, to be diverted to other routes.”
Ishan Bhanu, senior agricultural commodities analyst at Kpler, revealed that about 7 million tons of grains pass through Through the Suez Canal Monthly on average, but about 20% of those shipments currently take the Cape of Good Hope route.
“This percentage was close to 10% 10 days ago, but has risen in the past few days. Among the biggest affected are shipments of soybeans from the United States, wheat from Europe, and rapeseed from Australia,” he said.
A large grain trader for a German company that deals with Asia said he was still shipping grain through the Red Sea but was monitoring the situation closely.
He added, “We have not been affected yet. But I say so far.”
The change in the routing of bulk ships affects a major program of French wheat exports to China that began last December.
Of the 12 wheat shipments that left France for China since last month, 5 shipments sailed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, while 7 ships took the longer route around Africa, including two that changed course in the Mediterranean, as shown by shipping data from the London Stock Exchange Group.
France is the largest exporter of wheat in the European Union, and China has become a major destination for French wheat in the past few seasons.
