Red Sea attacks keep freight risk high
Houthi missile strikes and Red Sea tensions have continued to threaten key shipping lanes, raising insurance and rerouting costs for global maritime trade as of March 29. That pressure filters into higher lead times and freight rates for US‑Caribbean and intra‑Caribbean cargoes as carriers absorb risk and scarce tonnage. (reuters.com)
Maersk announced it paused Trans‑Suez sailings for its ME11 and MECL services and rerouted those strings around the Cape of Good Hope on March 1, 2026. (maersk.com) Carriers’ Africa detours add roughly 3,500–3,800 nautical miles to a Suez transit and lengthen voyages by about 10–14 days per sailing versus the canal route. (news.ftcpublications.com) War‑risk premiums for Red Sea transits have jumped to roughly 0.7%–1% of a vessel’s value, with some London underwriters pausing cover for high‑risk voyages. (infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com) (logisticsmiddleeast.com) Longer routings and suspended sailings are absorbing an estimated 2.5 million TEU of global container capacity and have prompted emergency surcharges such as CMA CGM’s $2,000/TEU emergency fee and Hapag‑Lloyd’s $1,500/TEU war‑risk levy on affected Gulf trades. (supplychaindive.com) Regional carriers servicing the Caribbean have posted direct rate hikes in March 2026, including Seaboard Marine’s published GRIs effective March 8 and March 22 and Hapag‑Lloyd’s GRI for Latin America‑to‑Caribbean trade effective April 4, 2026. (seaboardmarine.com 1) (seaboardmarine.com 2) (hapag-lloyd.com) Industry tracking shows daily transits through the southern Red Sea corridor fell from about 70 vessels to roughly 30–35 vessels per day as of late March 2026, and analysts warn chronic shortages of small‑ and mid‑size ships that feed regional trades are amplifying service gaps for intra‑Caribbean links. (maritimenews.com) (seatrade-maritime.com)
