Mitsui OSK Rerouting All Vessels via Cape of Good Hope

Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has rerouted all of its ships via the Cape of Good Hope due to attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea region, CEO Takeshi Hashimoto told Reuters on Tuesday.

Before the Red Sea disruptions, 2-3 ships used to pass through the Suez Canal daily...currently no ships of the company are passing through the canal, Hashimoto said.

Global shipping companies are sailing around Africa's Cape of Good Hope to avoid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, in turn reducing passage through the Suez Canal, which is vital to the movement of goods between Asia and Europe and handles about 12% of worldwide trade.

"There is a little bit of a dark economic situation in Europe and China. The total demand for shipping is not so huge," Hashimoto said.

"So far, we can manage our day-to-day operations by using very deviated routes. But I hope that the situation will be stabilised," he added.

(Reuters - Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad and Sudarshan Varadhan; writing by Brijesh Patel; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)