A CMA CGM container ship was attacked by a missile? Has called at many domestic ports

The UK Maritime Trade Operations Office (UKMTO) said the attack occurred off the coast of Moqa, Yemen, and strongly advised ships sailing in the area to exercise a high degree of vigilance.

Private security company Ambrey revealed that in the attack, three missiles targeted a Maltese-flagged container ship sailing from Djibouti to the port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Ambrey said: "The ship was targeted because its operator had trade ties with Israel."

Cargo manifests and ship tracking data show that the target ship is the Maltese-flagged CMA CGM Manta Ray, which was originally scheduled to sail from Djibouti to Jeddah on Monday. But CMA CGM said the ship was still in the port of Djibouti and therefore could not have been the target of the attack.

The ship's AIS data shows it is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia on May 1. The ship was built in 2008, has a capacity of 1,100TEU, and serves CMA CGM's Red Sea Express 2 (REX2). It was on the 0RDUGE1MA voyage when the incident occurred, and had called at domestic ports such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Taipei, Xiamen and Shekou.

The Houthis have not immediately acknowledged the attack, but it is still suspected given that it usually takes several hours for the group to claim responsibility for an attack. UKMTO said: "The explosion occurred near the commercial ship and the ship and crew are safe."

According to statistics from the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on ships since November last year, successfully hijacking one ship and sinking another. However, Houthi attacks have declined in recent weeks as the U.S.-led coalition has carried out airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Still, the threat of attacks has led to significant reductions in shipping traffic through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. In order to avoid potential risks, most ships choose to take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, which not only increases sailing time and cost, but also aggravates the tight capacity in the global shipping market.

Driven by the rebound of the global economy, especially the demand for trade between Asia and Europe, Africa, and South America has shown a growth trend. The combination of tight shipping capacity and route detours has caused shipping costs to rise further, and freight rates on major routes have soared. Recently, due to the rush to ship goods before the holiday, the market has experienced a shortage of containers, and there are also cases where freight forwarders who have obtained space have been canceled or dumped containers.

U.S. officials speculated that the Houthis renewed their attacks last week despite running out of weapons after a U.S.-led campaign and months of interceptions of drones and missiles. According to a statement from U.S. Central Command, the U.S. military successfully shot down five drones over the Red Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning. These drones "posed a direct threat to U.S., coalition forces, and commercial ships in the region."

On the other hand, the Houthis claimed on Saturday that they had shot down a US military MQ-9 Reaper drone and released fragments of known parts of the drone as evidence. In this regard, U.S. Department of Defense spokesman and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Brian McGarry confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday that "a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen" and said that an investigation is ongoing, but there is no confirmation yet. Provide more details.