Turbulent waters in the red sea: understanding maritime shipping business impacts and implications

The Red Sea shipping lanes have suffered over the past few months due to escalating geopolitical tensions. Since October 2023, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been targeting commercial vessels, and the situation is still ongoing. The Red Sea is the shortest and quickest route between Asia and Europe linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal, a disruption here could further strain the global supply chain, and economy. Considering the criticality of the ongoing conflict in the Red Sea area, this study attempts to review the related course of events on the maritime shipping business and explore the impacts and implications of the crisis. Varied sources of data have been referred to for the study, including archival data sources and semi-structured interviews with a group of stakeholders. The study follows the qualitative methods, the data analysis process identifies the “overarching categories” by carrying the progression of empirical data into broader conceptual layers for exploring the research question of the study. The findings substantiate that the crisis affects various aspects of maritime business, including operational difficulties, financial concerns, human resources and ethics-related issues, and reputational risks. Further, the responses of the stakeholders on the Red Sea conflict and maritime business are identified, and the findings have been applied to draw the discussion and implications (including ethical) for the future. Overall, the study illustrates that conflicts or disturbances in one region of the world may have far-reaching global repercussions, disrupting business operations worldwide.