The Gibraltar Eagle, a 64,000 DWT Marshall Islands flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier was hit January 15 by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, the U.S. military said. It said the ship reported no injuries or significant damage and was continuing its journey, according to The Guardian

Meanwhile, the commercial impact of disruption to shipping through the Red Sea and Suez Canal continued to spread. Dun & Bradstreet, a business analytics firm, estimated January 11 that roughly $7.3 billion in cargo volume is involved. The countries affected most are China, with $3 billion of impacted cargo value and the U.S., with $2.2 billion. The analyst firm said the commodity categories being hit the hardest include machinery, plastics and articles, and electrical machinery. 

Supply chain visibility software and analytics company project44 said January 12 that vessel volume in the Suez Canal has fallen 68%, to an average of 4.8 vessels per day, compared to 15 vessels per day prior to the Houthi attacks. It added that vessel schedules are experiencing up to a 310% increase in days late on Red Sea lanes. Container transit time is also affected, with some lanes showing an 8.8% increase. So far, 264 vessels have been rerouted, with only five vessels still drifting. Drifting vessels have decreased by 70% as carriers make the decision to reroute vessels, project44 said.

Shipping spot rates are skyrocketing, meanwhile. Container xChange, an online container logistics platform for container trading and container leasing, reported January 11 that the average rate on a 40-foot container from China to Europe was now about $5,400, up from $1,500 only a week before.

The situation is even causing a rise in demand for shipping containers in Asia as shippers and forwarders foresee cargo demand in the coming weeks, to fulfill orders ahead of the Chinese New Year.

Container xChange reported that a container manufacturer from China said shipping companies are demanding more containers now as they avoid the Red Sea, and that “shipping companies and leasing companies have placed more than 750,000 TEU ISO container orders out of China in the last two months.”

The company’s container price sentiment Index (xCPSI), a tool set to measure market sentiment for container price development, reached an all-time high as container price anticipation peaks.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea it says are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports, aiming to support Palestinians in the war in Gaza.

U.S. and British forces responded last week by carrying out dozens of air and sea strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and have hit scores of targets.

The Houthis’ chief negotiator said on January 15 the group’s stance had not changed since the U.S.-led airstrikes on its positions, and warned that attacks on ships headed to Israel would continue.

Israel has denied having links to vessels that have come under attack in the Red Sea, while several international shipping lines have paused deliveries or switched to longer, more costly routes.