Route of merchant ships through the Red Sea and the alternatives around South Africa (DPA infographic from January 12, 2024)

Since fighting began between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Houthi rebels from Yemen have been attacking ships of all nations in an attempt to force the West to stop supporting Israel. According to the leadership of the Houthi rebellion, the attacks will continue until Israel ends its military campaign in Gaza.

Due to these operations, navigating the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and on to the Suez Canal for goods transport from Asia is currently very dangerous or even impossible. International shipping companies are now taking the much longer transport route around Africa instead of this shortest possible route. This means that the travel times of merchant ships almost double per trip. This leads to the availability of the affected trade goods in Europe being halved

A well-known IT manufacturer spoke to Kontron in a recent meeting about the availability of resulting delivery times of 8 to 16 weeks (depending on the product group) from the production facilities in China to Austria - instead of the usual 3 weeks.

We therefore ask for your understanding that, despite Kontron AG's efforts to increase product stocks for its customers, longer delivery times will be unavoidable for certain product groups in the near future.