(Yicai) Jan. 3 -- Cargo trains running between China and Europe are fully booked this month as international traders seek alternative modes of transport after many global shipping giants suspended transport through the Red Sea following a number of attacks on their ships.

China Railway Express’ China-Europe freight trains are booked up for January and prices are now between 10 percent and 20 percent higher than in December, said Chen Kaifeng, director for business development at YXE Trading Service Group. And demand is still low as many European clients are still on their end-of-year vacations.

Following a spate of attacks on ships by Yemen’s Houthi armed forces in December, China Ocean Shipping Group, Denmark’s Maersk, France’s CMA CGM and other international shippers suspended transport through the Red Sea, which is one of the world’s most important shipping routes for oil and fuel. Instead they are rerouting their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, adding 9,000 kilometers and an extra six to 14 days to the journey.

Maersk tried to resume sending vessels through the Red Sea last weekend but they were under siege. However, according to its latest shipping schedule, the Copenhagen-based firm still intends to let several dozens of its container ships sail through the Suez Canal. And CMA CGM said it will return to the Red Sea as soon as the US-led Red Sea Coalition ends its deployment.

There are now ‘blank sailings,’ or days when it is not possible to reserve shipping space, on routes to Europe and the Middle East, Wang Zhicong, director of the marketing department at Shenzhen Baosen Suntop Logistics, told Yicai. For ships leaving Shenzhen's Yantian Port for Europe, several days from Jan. 8 to Jan. 25 have blank sailings, he added.

And ocean freight prices are going up each week, Wang said. The price to ship a 40-feet container to Europe in the second week of January is now USD5,200, a leap of 23 percent from the previous week.

In mid to late December when the Red Sea crisis worsened, I had to accept requests from Rollmax’s North African clients not to hike freight costs, but this wiped out 20 percent of our net profit, said Ding Yandong, general manager of the trading company.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Kim Taylor