Shipping giant Maersk said on Monday that the next few months will be challenging for shipping companies and businesses, as the disruption of container traffic via the Red Sea will continue until the third quarter of this year.

    Since December, Maersk and other shipping companies have rerouted ships around Africa's Cape of Good Hope to avoid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. The longer route around the southern tip of Africa has sent shipping costs soaring and created congestion at ports in Asia and Europe, threatening to disrupt global supply chains again.

    In fact, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the Houthi armed attacks on passing ships will not stop, Maersk's so-called "disruption will continue until the third quarter" can only be an optimistic forecast, no one knows when the route will be unimpeded.

    Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc said: "The longer this goes on, the more expensive it will be for us. We don't yet know exactly how much of the cost will be recovered and how long it will take. The higher rates we are seeing now are only temporary."

    The company also claimed that European and American escort operations have failed so far, and governments need to strengthen security cooperation in the Red Sea region.

    He stressed that Maersk would only return to the Red Sea route if the safety of seafarers, ships and cargo could be assured. "Once a solution is found, ships can resume their regular routes through the Suez Canal almost immediately."

    Mr Cowen pointed out that across the shipping industry, additional capacity is extremely limited, while demand for container traffic remains strong and shipping lines are already working hard to co-ordinate capacity, but it will not alleviate the problems facing the industry as a whole.

    Over time, the Red Sea crisis could pose challenges to global supply chains and reignite inflation problems in some European countries,

    Just recently, more than a dozen shipping associations, including the International Chamber of Shipping and the World Shipping Council, issued a statement saying that the geopolitical conflict has dealt a serious blow to the shipping industry and called on influential countries to ease the situation in the Red Sea as soon as possible.

    A World Bank report shows that by the end of March 2024, sea traffic through the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has halved, while traffic through the Cape of Good Hope has doubled.

    On Monday, Maersk also announced that it had dropped out of the running for DB Schenker, a large German logistics company. Maersk said bidding for DB Schenker was not the "right thing" to do at this time.