The strikes have forced container ships to change route, causing major disruptions in companies’ chains of production.

Latest attacks on vessels by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea have disrupted international trade on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The strikes, which came in solidarity with Palestinians facing Israeli bombardments in Gaza, are targeting a route that accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s shipping traffic, forcing several shipping companies to reroute their vessels.

The Houthi assaults have pushed several commercial vessels passing through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to take an alternative and much longer route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, causing major changes and delays in shipping schedule.

Shipowners have already reported increases in the transit time from China to Europe (including Constanta port) by up to 3 weeks port-to-port, compared to the normal transit time through the Suez Canal.