Hamburg - There is no specific timeline for when the shipping industry will resume sailing through the Suez Canal, but any return would be gradual, the chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest container company, said last week.

Shipping companies have been sailing costly routes around Africa since November 2023 to avoid attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi militants, who said they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza.

Hapag-Lloyd and bigger rival Maersk stressed caution last week on a possible . . .