Attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea are putting pressure on European industry. The first factories are closing and raw materials for bathroom cleaning products are becoming scarce. Austria is no exception.
Vienna. 31 days. A container ship usually travels from the Chinese port of Shenzen until it can deliver its goods to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Twelve percent of products traded worldwide come from Asia to Europe via the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Suez Canal (see chart). But attacks by Houthi rebels turned the fastest link between the two continents into a high-risk area for weeks. More than 2,000 ships therefore prefer to make a detour around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa. On average, ships travel ten days longer, use a third more fuel and emit a third more emissions. And the first products are slowly becoming scarce in Europe.