After the weekend attack on one of Maersk’s container ships in the Red Sea the shipping company is now putting more ships on standby.

In the wake of the attack, Maersk announced that it would suspend sailings through the waters for 48 hours while it assessed the situation.

However, there are also at least 17 ships for which a decision on the route has not yet been made, Reuters reports.

For another 30 ships, the schedule also states that the ships will continue towards the Suez Canal. However, this is because the ships are scheduled to pass at a later date, and therefore it may be too early to make a decision for the ships, as the situation in the Red Sea is constantly changing. Maersk is expected to make an updated announcement during Tuesday, when the 48 hours expire.

ShippingWatch has been in contact with Maersk, who confirms the above.

The Maersk ship, Maersk Hangzhou, was attacked on Saturday evening with a missile fired by the Houthi movement as it was passing through the Red Sea. The ship was then attempted to be boarded by four boats on Sunday morning, but US Navy helicopters returned fire and sank three of the four boats.

Earlier in December, another Maersk ship, the Maersk Gibraltar, was also attacked with a missile.

After the attack, Maersk chose to send all ships around the southern tip of Africa instead of taking the shortcut via the Suez Canal.

A few days ago, Maersk announced that it would resume shipping traffic in the Red Sea in light of US presence in the sea.

Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Katrine Gøthler.