Copenhagen, Jan 26: Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), opens new tab said explosions nearby forced two ships operated by its U.S. subsidiary and carrying U.S. military supplies to turn around when they were transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, accompanied by the U.S. Navy.“While en route, both ships reported seeing explosions close by and the U.S. Navy accompaniment also intercepted multiple projectiles,” Maersk said in a statement, adding it was suspending Red Sea transits by vessels of the U.S. subsidiary.
A spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthi military forces said they fired ballistic missiles at several U.S. warships that were protecting two U.S. commercial vessels.
Both commercial vessels are operated by Maersk Line, Limited (MLL), its U.S. subsidiary that carries cargo for the Department of Defense, Department of State, USAID, and other U.S. government agencies.
Both are enrolled in the Maritime Security Program (MSP) and Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) with the U.S. government, which is why they were escorted through the strait by U.S. Navy vessels, Maersk said.
MSP and VISA are programmes run by the U.S. Defense Department to transport forces, supplies and equipment during times of war or national emergency.
The vessels and crew were unharmed and were being escorted back to the Gulf of Aden by the U.S. Navy, Maersk said. Bab al-Mandab is the outlet of the Red Sea, between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea on the African coast.
The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement that Houthi forces targeted a number of U.S. warships with ballistic missiles on Wednesday in a “clash” that lasted more than two hours and led to a U.S. warship being directly hit and the two commercial vessels having “to withdraw and return.”