Ikea warns of shipping delays caused by Red Sea terrorist attacks
Swedish discount-furniture giant Ikea warned that it is experiencing supply-chain delays because of terrorist attacks that have sparked a mass diversion of shipping containers from the Red Sea.
“The situation in the Suez Canal will result in delays and may cause availability constraints for certain Ikea products,” an Ikea spokesperson confirmed to The Post on Thursday.
The spokesperson noted that it was “evaluating other supply options to secure the availability of our products,” but would prioritize the safety of staff working in its supply chain.
Ikea does not have its own container vessels, and taps Copenhagen-based shipping company Mersk to transport its products across the Red Sea, along a route that leads ships through Egypt’s Suez Canal, the quickest passage between Europe and Asia.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, aligned with Iran, have been launching attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea in a move of support for Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Last week, a tanker in the Red Sea off Yemen’s coast was fired on by armed Houthi men in a speedboat and targeted with missiles, maritime sources said.
It’ i’s the latest incident to threaten the vital shipping lane after Yemeni Houthi forces warned ships not to travel to Israel.
At least $80 billion worth of cargo has already been diverted from the waterway, according to CNBC.
Maersk is now among those to have confirmed this week they will begin diverting ships to a longer route that will see ships circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope, around the south of Africa, the outlet reported.
The journey adds between two and four weeks of transit time depending on the speed traveled.
Representatives for Ikea and Maersk did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Just this week, the Pentagon announced a new partnership to counter the growing number of attacks by Iranian proxies on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
“This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement from Bahrain, adding: “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners and violates international law.”
The US will be joined in the new coalition — dubbed “Operation Prosperity Guardian” by the Pentagon — by the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain.
Some countries will conduct joint patrols while others provide intelligence support in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Other countries have also agreed to be involved in the operation but do not want to be publicly named.
The US Navy has already sent two of its guided-missile destroyers — the USS Carney and USS Mason — to patrol the Red Sea, which separates Egypt from Saudi Arabia.
That order followed a Dec. 3 attack in which Houthis struck three commercial vessels with missiles.
The USS Carney was targeted along with at least three commercial ships in an assault that lasted about five hours, the Pentagon and an unnamed US official said.
Houthi later acknowledged that they had targeted two Israeli commercial ships, the Unity Explorer and Number Nine — because the ships failed to heed warnings to get out of the region — but did not mention the US Navy vessel.
The USS Carney responded to the strikes, shooting down another three drones dispatched from Yemen in the process.
Before this Dec. 3 attack, the USS Carney had downed 15 drones and four cruise missiles in the Red Sea fired from Yemen.
US Central Command has condemned the recent attacks by the rebel group as “a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security.
“They have jeopardized the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world,” US Central Command said in a statement.
