There is no specific timeline for when the shipping industry will resume sailing through the Suez Canal, but any return would be gradual, the Chief Executive of Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth biggest container company said on Thursday.
"No date is set (for a resumption), and once it comes it will be gradual," said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen in an online call with customers, adding there would be a transition period of some 60 to 90 days to adjust current logistics and avoid sudden port congestion.
Vessel owners have been sailing costly routes around Africa since November 2023 because Yemen-based Houthi terrorists have attacked vessels in the Red Sea, supposedly in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war in Gaza, a conflict that has calmed.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Joe Bavier)