IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez has condemned the latest Red Sea ship attacks, and his statement carries one line every freight buyer should read twice: operators must thoroughly assess risks before transiting the region. That is where a diplomatic statement turns into your problem. Risk assessments drive routing calls, routing calls drive transit times, and transit times drive the booking window you are working with right now.
What Happened
Dominguez issued a statement calling the reported attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea area indefensible. He said they endanger the lives of seafarers while threatening the security of international shipping, the marine environment and the stability of global supply chains. Seafarers, he noted, are civilians performing essential work that sustains economies and communities worldwide.
“I unequivocally condemn the latest reported attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea area. These attacks are indefensible.â€
The statement also puts responsibility on commercial operators. Ship operators must thoroughly assess risks before transiting the region, and seafarers must never be placed in harm’s way or targeted. Coming from the UN body that writes maritime safety and security rules, that phrasing matters to underwriters and charterers as much as to masters. It gives war risk insurers and P&I clubs a reference point when they price, restrict or decline Red Sea and Gulf of Aden transits.
Impact on Freight Rates and Operations
When operators pull back from Bab el-Mandeb, the alternative is the Cape of Good Hope. On an Asia to North Europe string that adds roughly 3,000 to 3,500 nautical miles and somewhere between 10 and 14 days each way, depending on service speed. Extra sea days pull ships out of rotation, so the same fleet delivers fewer sailings per month on the same lane.
Fewer sailings tightens space before it moves rates. Expect blank sailings, thinner equipment availability at Asian load ports, and surcharge lines reappearing on your quote: war risk, emergency transit, peak season. LCL shippers feel it differently. A consolidator needs a full box before it cuts, so when sailings thin out your cartons can sit at the CFS for an extra week while the consolidator waits on volume. That dwell is invisible on the rate sheet and very visible on your delivery date.
What Shippers Should Do
- Ask your forwarder for the routing, not just the rate. A quote via Suez and a quote via the Cape are two different products at a similar price. Get the confirmed rotation and the ETA in writing before you commit purchase orders to it.
- Rebuild lead times around the longer leg. If your planning still assumes a Suez transit, add the extra sea days plus a buffer for congestion at the discharge port, and tell your sales team before they promise customer dates.
- Confirm who pays the surcharges. On FOB terms the war risk and emergency transit charges land on you. On CIF your supplier absorbs them and reprices the goods later. Check which contract each PO is actually on.
- Recheck your LCL versus FCL math this week. Longer transits change dwell, insurance exposure and per-CBM economics. The break-even volume that held last quarter may not hold on the Cape routing.
Key Takeaway
The IMO statement will not move a rate sheet by itself, but it hands operators a formal reason to avoid the Red Sea, and every avoided transit is time and cost you have to price into your supply chain.
Plan Your Shipment: Use our free CBM Calculator, Container Load Calculator, and LCL vs FCL Calculator to plan your next shipment.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News