A French Navy frigate shot down a drone while escorting a CMA CGM container ship through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the night of October 1 to 2, an incident the French Armed Forces General Staff confirmed to Le Monde, which reported it on October 15. The frigate Languedoc used its gun to destroy the drone after judging it to be a threat, and the container ship, CMA CGM Champs Elysees, changed course and speed during the incident.
The drone was believed to be carrying cameras for surveillance and flew over a group of merchant ships that included the CMA CGM vessel and at least one MSC container ship. The Champs Elysees, a 23,112 TEU vessel, was travelling from Singapore to Northern Europe; CMA CGM’s schedule showed it left Singapore on September 20, passed through the Suez Canal on October 3 and was due at Le Havre on October 16.
The disclosure, rather than the event date, is the new development for shipping markets: the engagement became public almost two weeks after it happened, and the crew reaction reported with it points the other way from a normalised Red Sea route. The CFDT union said CMA CGM management reported more seafarers refusing to make the passage after the incident, discussed at a company health, safety and working conditions committee meeting on October 7, and the union has urged the company to use alternative routes when possible. CMA CGM said every transit takes place with the agreement of the crew members concerned.
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been classified as a war zone by the International Bargaining Forum since March 2024, a classification that gives eligible seafarers extra pay and the right to refuse to sail through the area. France has maintained a naval presence escorting container vessels through the Red Sea since Houthi attacks on shipping began at the end of 2023, and Le Monde noted that Paris had promised support to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Yanbu port and oil terminal as fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia intensified.