It's piracy on the high seas, me lads and lassies.
The tally compiled by Flexport shows 299 vessels with a combined capacity to carry 4.3 million containers have either changed course or plan to.
That is about double the number from a week ago and equates to about 18 per cent of global capacity.
Here's a video showing how ships have rerouted:
Trips around the Cape of Africa can take 25% longer, which drives up the cost of fuel.
Those trips are more costly and may lead to higher prices for consumers on everything from sneakers to food to oil if the longer journeys persist.
It should be noted that the Pentagon attempted to form a coalition in order to strike at the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who are carrying out the attacks from Yemen, where they have waged a civil war since 2014.
As the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war threatens global trade, a US-led task force is trying to bolster security on the key waterway.
Reports say this coalition, dubbed "Operation Prosperity Guardian," has stalled. Key allies such as Britain and France have pulled out, indicating they will only serve under NATO leadership. For some reason, they don't seem to trust US leadership anymore.
The reason is anyone's guess.
The trend in Flexport's numbers mirrors a separate count by Swiss freight-forwarder Kuehne+Nagel International that, as at Dec 27, showed 364 vessels with capacity for five million, 20-foot-container units being rerouted around Africa. That compares with 314 vessels on Dec 22.
The figures show the scale of the mounting maritime disruption after Houthis launched more than 100 attacks on commercial ships in the past month. The MSC United VIII container ship was targeted on Dec 26 while en route to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia.
There is also a drought that is affecting how many ships can pass through the canal. Flexport says this, combined with the Houthi attacks, might reduce global maritime shipping capacity by 20%.
For the globalized world, but especially for import-reliant nations like the United States, free and open oceans are essential for life.
"While the US-led coalition might appear successful militarily, it might not be sufficient for major shipping companies to resume Red Sea transits," said Mr Gerard DiPippo, senior geo-economic analyst with Bloomberg Economics. "The longer the Houthi attacks continue, the more pressure the US will face to go on the offensive, which risks regional escalation."
In other words, Western powers may need to unite to repel a pirate vassal kingdom off the Arabian coast so that trade from the East Indies can continue.
What's that saying about history repeating itself?
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