A.P. Moller-Maersk, the container shipping giant, announced on Tuesday that it had stopped taking fresh bookings of goods for Sudan due to ongoing violence in the country. The company is monitoring the situation and searching for solutions to stabilise its logistics services in the country.
Besides Maersk, the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd also stopped taking new bookings. However, it will honour any bookings placed already and ship them to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the French container transportation enterprise CMA CGM announced an additional charge of USD500 as an “extra risk coverage surcharge” for dry and reefer consignments from the Middle East, Europe, and India from May 1.
Many Gulf airlines have stopped flying to Sudan following the recent shooting of a Saudia passenger plane earlier this month. Emirates also announced a prolonged suspension of flights to Khartoum, the busiest airport in Sudan, till May 31. Despite the conflicts, all roads and bridges of Port Sudan are open for goods transportation and loading and discharge operations are continuing normally inside the port.
