israel hamas wore widespread the region. here s our business reporter david waddell. the situation has come to a head because two big shipping companies, maersk, the container company and hapag lloyd another big shipping container company have both announced that they would stop sending shipping through the babar el mandeh strip. i lljust show you where that is. it is at the south side of the red sea. and at the north side of the red sea, we have the suez canal. these are two of the world s biggest choke points. if anything halts shipping through these points then it has a major effect on other shipping. any ships making their way from india or the philippines to europe or the united states, further west has to come through here and here then eventually through the straits of gibraltar before going further west or north from there. the alternative is to go south around the cape of good hope, suez canal and that adds 14 days possibly on to the journey time. now the suez cana
of solidarity for hamas. as a result, some of the world s biggest shipping firms have suspended services through the world s most important route for oil and fuel shipments. with more context, here s our business reporter david waddell. let s have a look at the geography of the situation. right here is the bab al mandab strait. it s right next to yemen, from where those houthi attacks originated. it s at the southern end of the red sea. at the northern end is the suez canal. now, ships cannot pass through the suez canal from the south without first passing through this choke point. a couple of days ago, the maersk shipping container company and hapag lloyd both announced they wouldn t be making that transit. they ve since been joined by other shipping companies. now, if you re a ship master trying to get your vessel from the indian ocean to the atlantic ocean and you cannot or will not traverse through suez, you need to pass by the cape of good hope. that adds an extra 3,000
song all day. we begin in egypt where officials insist traffic is flowing normally through the suez canal despite recent attacks further south in the red sea. iranian backed rebels in yemen have repeatedly targeted commercial vessels, leading some of the world s biggest shipping firms to suspend routes in the area. with more context, here s our business reporter david waddell. let us have a look at the situation. there are where the attacks occurred. at the northern end is the suez canal. you can t make your way unless you first pass this checkpoint. two companies. maersk, the container company and hapag lloyd another big shipping container company have both announced that they would not be making that passage. you have to pass the cape of good hope in south africa. that adds nearly 11,000 nautical miles to thejourney. adds nearly 11,000 nautical miles to the journey. there is another separate issue for the ships trying to traverse through the atlantic ocean and the pacific o
business reporter david waddell. let s have a look at the geography of the situation. right here is the bab al mandab strait. it s right next to yemen, from where those houthi attacks originated. it s at the southern end of the red sea. at the northern end is the suez canal. now, ships cannot pass through the suez canal from the south without first passing through this choke point. a couple of days ago, the maersk shipping container company and hapag lloyd both announced they wouldn t be making that transit. they ve since been joined by other shipping companies. now, if you re a ship master trying to get your vessel from the indian ocean to the atlantic ocean and you cannot or will not traverse through suez, you need to pass by the cape of good hope. that adds an extra 3,000 nautical miles to thejourney. and there are other issues for ships trying to traverse from the atlantic to the pacific ocean through here. the panama canal is accepting many fewer ships right now because