An Israeli navy missile boat patrols in the Red Sea off the coast of Israel's southern port city of Eliat on Dec 26, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

LOS ANGELES — Toymaker Basic Fun's team that oversees ocean shipments of Tonka trucks and Care Bears for Walmart and other retailers is racing to reroute cargo away from the Suez Canal following militant attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

Suppliers for the likes of IKEA, Home Depot, Amazon and retailers around the world are doing the same as businesses grapple with the biggest shipping upheaval since the COVID-19 pandemic threw global supply chains into disarray, sources in the logistics industry said.

Yemeni Houthis' drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza have upended Basic Fun's plans

Florida-based Basic Fun usually ships all Europe-bound toys from its China factories via the Suez Canal, the quickest way to move goods between those geographies, CEO Jay Foreman said in a telephone interview from his Hong Kong office.

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That trade route is used by roughly one-third of global container ship cargo, and re-directing ships around the southern tip of Africa is expected to cost up to $1 million extra in fuel for every round trip between Asia and Northern Europe.

Yemeni Houthis' drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza have upended Basic Fun's plans.

The company is now working through the holidays to send toys from China to ports in the UK and Rotterdam via the the longer route.

It is also diverting some goods bound for ports on the US East Coast from the Suez Canal to the drought-choked Panama Canal, while switching others to the West Coast via the direct route across the Pacific Ocean.

"It's just going to take longer and it's going to cost more," said Foreman, who added that rates for some China-UK freight have more than doubled to around $4,400 per container since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October.

The Suez Canal situation remains fast changing, and shippers Maersk and CMA CGM are moving to resume voyages with military escorts through the Red Sea.

Vessel owners already have begun rationing the less expensive, contract-rate space they reserve for customers, said Anders Schulze, head of the ocean business at digital freight forwarder Flexport

The biggest impact likely will come over the next six weeks, said Michael Aldwell, executive vice-president of sea logistics for Switzerland's Kuehne + Nagel.

Scramble for space

As of Wednesday, nearly 20 percent of the global container fleet - or 364 hulking container vessels capable of carrying just over 2.5 million full-sized containers - had been set on a new course due to the Red Sea attacks, according to Kuehne + Nagel data.

Vessel owners already have begun rationing the less expensive, contract-rate space they reserve for customers, said Anders Schulze, head of the ocean business at digital freight forwarder Flexport.

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For example, he said, a customer who delivers five containers a month versus the 10 promised in their contract may only get five containers at contract rates. The remainder would be subject to expensive spot market rates.

Small shippers are most at risk of being elbowed out.

Foreman at Basic Fun, which plans to have about 40 containers on the water before the Lunar New Year, said the company's contracts with customers don't include a way to recover the extra expense. "The price is fixed. (Most suppliers) are going to have to eat those costs.