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shipping industry
The US Is Waging an Illegal War for Faster Shipping
Even as the Biden administration and Congress move forward with military solutions, there are alternatives to addressing the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping, namely, negotiating a cease-fire in Gaza.
Apr 04, 2024
The United States is waging an illegal war in Yemen, where major shipping routes along the country’s coastlines have been disrupted by ongoing violence in the region.
Despite widespread understanding in Washington that U.S. military operations in Yemen violate U.S. law, U.S. officials continue to insist that they must continue their military campaign, which they say is necessary to saving time and money on commercial shipping through the Middle East.
“The U.S. economy relies on open sea lanes,” U.S. General Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said at a March 7 Senate hearing, after being asked about the growing U.S. military presence in the Red Sea. “By our national security strategy, we will not allow a state or non-state actor to affect the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al Mandeb, or the Suez Canal.”
Although some of the Houthis’ attacks have caused casualties, the major concern in Washington has been the implications for the global economy.
Since January 11, the United States has been directing airstrikes and other military operations in Yemen. U.S. military forces have been targeting the Houthis, a militant group that has been launching missiles and other attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.
For months, the Houthis’ attacks have disrupted commercial shipping. The Houthis have insisted that they will continue their attacks until Israel ends it military offensive in Gaza.
Although some of the Houthis’ attacks have caused casualties, the major concern in Washington has been the implications for the global economy. As U.S. officials have repeatedly noted, as much as 15% of global trade passes through the Red Sea, including 12% of the sea-based oil trade.
“The reason it’s so important there is this,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained earlier this year. “15% of commercial traffic is going through that strait every single day.” That includes “30% of the world’s container ships.”
Of particular concern to U.S. officials is the Bab al Mandeb, a narrow strait along the southwestern coast of Yemen that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. An estimated 8.8 million barrels of oil are shipped through the strait every day, making it one of the world’s “strategic chokepoints,” as Gen. Kurilla described it.
Although the White House has insisted that President Joe Biden has the legal authority to take military action against the Houthis, several members of Congress have refuted its claims. At a Senate hearing in February, several senators called attention to the War Powers Resolution, which establishes that the president cannot continue hostilities for longer than 60 days without approval from Congress.
Regardless, Congress has failed to act, even now that the deadline has passed. March 12, the day that the White House was required to cease its military operations, “came, and went, in public silence,” as The Associated Press reported.
Even as the Biden administration and Congress move forward with an illegal war, there are alternatives to addressing the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping.
As some U.S. officials have acknowledged, the ideal and perhaps most obvious alternative would be to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza. After all, the Houthis continue to insist that they will not end their attacks until Israel ends its siege of Gaza.
“I am very keen to see that there is a cease-fire in Gaza,” U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking said during a March 29 appearance on “Washington Journal.” “I do believe that we can use that moment to deescalate some of these other crises, including the Red Sea. We must get to that moment.”
Absent a cease-fire, however, it remains possible for commercial ships to circumvent the Middle East. Data compiled by the International Monetary Fund indicates that maritime trade is being redirected around Africa. In other words, commercial ships are taking advantage of other options for reaching their destinations.
The Biden administration has opposed both approaches, however. Not only has the administration continued to support Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, despite its acknowledgment of the worsening “humanitarian catastrophe,” as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described it, but the administration remains unwilling to tolerate the longer shipping times that are associated with the route around Africa.
“If you’re talking oil that comes through, we’re seeing a diversion of that,” Gen. Kurilla said at the March 7 Senate hearing. “It goes around the Cape of Good Hope. What that’s going to do is bring products late to market and price increases as well.”
Indeed, the priority of U.S. officials is to keep the Red Sea open for shipping. Their determination to maintain faster shipping is leading them to move forward with a war in Yemen that they know is illegal, even as they come to recognize more sensible options.
The first step in getting to a “just settlement” in Yemen “is the cease-fire in Gaza,” Lenderking said. “I think we can use that diplomatically to deescalate the situation in the Red Sea.”
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Container Ship That Destroyed Baltimore Bridge Has Troubled History
The Maersk-chartered MV Dali—which lost propulsion just before the collision—not only was involved in a previous crash, but was also briefly detained last year over problems with its propulsion system.
Mar 26, 2024
The mega-container ship that lost propulsion before toppling Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in a Tuesday morning collision was involved in a previous crash, and was cited last year for propulsion-related problems.
Newsweekreported that the Maersk Line Limited-chartered MV Dali—which crashed into the Interstate 695 Patapsco River crossing just before 1:30 am, causing the span to collapse and sending a construction crew into the water—collided with a wall in the harbor at Antwerp, Belgium in 2016. The accident, which was reported by Vessel Finder and other outlets at the time, was attributed to errors made by the ship's master and pilot.
The 9-year-old Dali was also detained by port officials in San Antonio, Chile last June after inspectors discovered a problem related to the vessel's "propulsion and auxiliary machinery," according toThe Washington Post, which cited records from the intergovernmental shipping regulator Tokyo MOU.
The ship's owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and operator, Synergy Marine, "have been sued at least four times in U.S. federal court on allegations of negligence and other claims tied to worker injuries on other ships owned and operated by the Singapore-based companies," according toThe Associated Press.
Maersk was also sanctioned last year by the U.S. Labor Department for allegedly stopping employees from reporting safety concerns, documents published by The Lever revealed.
According to a July 14, 2023 Labor Department letter to Maersk regarding an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation, the Danish company "suspended and then terminated" a worker "in retaliation for reporting unsafe conditions and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard."
The fired employee "engaged in numerous protected activities" including reporting a leak and the need for repairs to a ship's cargo hold bilge system, alcohol use aboard the vessel by crew members, and inoperable equipment including an emergency fire pump and lifeboat block and releasing gear.
The search for six construction workers who were on the bridge when it collapsed into the river was suspended until Wednesday, according toThe Associated Press. The workers are presumed dead by their employer, Brawner Builders. Local media reported that multiple vehicles plunged into the river and that two workers—one of whom was briefly hospitalized—were rescued from the water.
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Ocean Defenders Decry 'Total Failure' of Global Shipping Agreement to Meet Paris Climate Goal
"There is no excuse for this wish-and-a-prayer agreement," said one activist.
Jul 07, 2023
As the world's seafaring nations failed to agree on any absolute emission reduction targets during this week's Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in London, civil society groups warned Friday that the draft deal reached by 175 nations is insufficient to achieve the Paris climate agreement's preferred 1.5°C planetary warming limit.
In a tentative agreement reached at the tail end of the 80th Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting (MEPC80), members of the United Nations' International Maritime Organization (IMO) eschewed concrete commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions in favor of "indicative checkpoints" to reach net-zero by or around 2050.
These include reducing global annual emissions from shipping from 2008 levels "by at least 20% and striving for 30% by 2030." In the longer term, the tentative agreement calls for a 70% reduction—and "striving for 80%"—in shipping emissions by 2040.
Activists are demanding a 50% reduction in worldwide shipping emissions from 2008 levels by the end of the decade.
The shipping industry is responsible for about 3% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, even more than worldwide commercial aviation. The overwhelming majority of the roughly 100,000 cargo vessels plying the seas and carrying 90% of all global cargo run on bunker fuel, the world's dirtiest diesel containing 3,500 times more sulfur than automotive diesel.
Members of Ocean Rebellion marked what the activist group called the "total failure" of MEPC80 by dropping a large banner from the second floor of IMO Lambeth Road headquarters.
Ocean Rebellion also staged creative protests throughout the week at MEPC80. An activist dressed as Poseidon confronted attendees; the mythical ruler of the seas also "sent a letter" to IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim seeking a meeting to discuss how his "watery realm is becoming uninhabitable."
Ocean Rebellion also staged a mermaid "die-in" on the conference floor, and threw a morning rave outside the IMO building.
"The U.N. talks a great talk. The International Maritime Organization, a U.N. body, is unfit for purpose. It's corrupted by industry and uses its U.N. remit on behalf of the shipping industry," charged Ocean Rebellion activist and artist Suzanne Stallard.
"We're living in an age of ecological breakdown; the U.N. must recognize this by reforming IMO governance," she added. "We ask the U.N. to call out its rogue subsidiaries, still more harmful to life on Earth than the rogue states we hear so much about."
The Clean Shipping Coalition, an international association of civil society environmental protection groups, on Friday published a set of recommendations for the shipping industry:
- 1.5°C-aligned emission cuts through the introduction of new legislation and tightening of existing laws;
- Shipping levies on a 1.5°C-aligned basis and of at least $100 per ton of greenhouse gas emissions in service of an equitable transition;
- Industry cooperation and investments in wind propulsion, green hydrogen, and other alternative energy solutions;
- Inclusion of shipping in countries' nationally determined contributions under the Paris agreement.
"There is no excuse for this wish-and-a-prayer agreement," John Maggs, president of the Clean Shipping Coalition, said in a statement. "They knew what the science required, and that a 50% cut in emissions by 2030 was both possible and affordable. Instead, the level of ambition agreed is far short of what is needed to be sure of keeping global heating below 1.5ºC and the language seemingly contrived to be vague and noncommittal."
"The most vulnerable put up an admirable fight for high ambition and significantly improved the agreement," Maggs added, "but we are still a long way from the IMO treating the climate crisis with the urgency that it deserves and that the public demands."
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