Greece-headquartered Star Bulk will halt sailings through the Red Sea after Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthis attacked two of its ships in recent days, the group\u2019s CEO said.The Houthis have targeted commercial vessels with drones and missiles in the Red Sea since mid-November in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war.\u201cGoing forward, we will not be passing the Suez Canal any more because we are obviously a target of the Houthis \u2013 being a public company registered in the U.S.,\u201d Star Bulk CEO Petros Pappas told a Feb. 13 earnings call.Pappas said they had asked the charterers of two separate vessels if they could avoid going through the Suez Canal, which leads into the Red Sea.\u201cWe got advice that we had to follow the charter party and send the vessels through Suez,\u201d Pappas said, adding that the first vessel was attacked three times.\u201cWhile that was happening, the second vessel was already passing Suez so we could not divert it and that had to continue and was attacked,\u201d he said.The Houthis on Feb. 6 fired three missiles at the Star Nasia, managed by Nasdaq-listed Star Bulk, which reported minor damage and no injuries, the U.S. military\u2019s Central Command (Centcom) said, adding that a U.S. navy ship shot down one of the projectiles.On Feb. 12, the Houthis fired two missiles at the Star Bulk managed Star Iris which was sailing to Iran with a cargo of corn from Brazil \u2013 Centcom and shipping analysts said \u2013 the first time an Iran-bound vessel had been targeted.Houthi militants in Yemen, who control the country\u2019s most populous regions, have targeted vessels with commercial ties to the United States, Britain and Israel, shipping and insurance sources say.Pappas said war risk insurance rates had risen in recent days.\u201cWe won\u2019t be going through the Red Sea, so it does not apply any more. For whoever it does, I suppose the more vessels that are hit, the higher the insurance rates that will be asked by the insurer.\u201d(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Star Bulk, a Greece-headquartered shipping company, has announced that it will halt sailings through the Red Sea due to attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. The Houthis have been targeting commercial vessels with drones and missiles in the Red Sea since mid-November as a show of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war. Star Bulk’s CEO, Petros Pappas, stated that the company will no longer pass through the Suez Canal, as they are a target of the Houthis and are a public company registered in the US. The company had requested to avoid the Suez Canal, but were advised to follow the charter party and send the vessels through. The Houthis recently attacked two of Star Bulk’s ships, causing minor damage. This has led to an increase in war risk insurance rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[195,3,641,145,747,496,700,146,299,254,714,462,701,124,796,544,380,293,18,685],"class_list":["post-3017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-britain","tag-cyprus","tag-earnings","tag-gaza","tag-greece","tag-houthi","tag-houthis","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-nasdaq","tag-navy","tag-palestinians","tag-red-sea","tag-ship","tag-shipping","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-war","tag-world","tag-yemen"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n