Red Sea crisis may disrupt global shipping,
Red Sea,

▍What is cTUVus & ETL CERTIFICATION?

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), affiliated to US DOL (Department of Labor), demands that all products to be used in workplace must be tested and certificated by NRTL before being sold in market. Applicable testing standards include American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards; American Society for Testing Material (ASTM) standards, Underwriter Laboratory (UL) standards, and factory mutual-recognition organization standards.

▍OSHA, NRTL, cTUVus, ETL and UL terms definition and relationship

OSHA: Abbreviation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It is an affiliation of US DOL (Department of Labor).

NRTL： Abbreviation of Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory. It is in charge of lab accreditation. Up to now, there are 18 third-party testing institutions approved by NRTL, including TUV, ITS, MET and so forth.

cTUVus： Certification mark of TUVRh in North America.

ETL： Abbreviation of American Electrical Testing Laboratory. It was established in 1896 by Albert Einstein, the American inventor.

UL： Abbreviation of Underwriter Laboratories Inc.

▍Difference between cTUVus, ETL & UL

▍Why MCM?

● Soft Support from qualification and technology: As the witness testing lab of TUVRH and ITS in North American Certification, MCM is able to perform all types of testing and provide better service by exchanging technology face to face.

● Hard support from technology: MCM is equipped with all testing equipment for batteries of big-sized, small-sized and precision projects (i.e. electric mobile car, storage energy, and electronic digital products), able to provide overall battery testing and certification services in North America, covering standards UL2580, UL1973, UL2271, UL1642, UL2054 and so forth.

The Red Sea is the only way for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is located at the junction of the two continents of Asia and Africa. Its southern end connects the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and its northern end connects with the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean through the Suez Canal. The route through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. The Suez Canal should currently be the largest transportation artery in the world, especially when the Panama Canal is currently facing severe water shortages and reduced navigation capacity. As the main navigation channel for Asia-Europe, Asia-Mediterranean, and Asia-Eastern United States routes, the Suez Canal, its impact on global trade and shipping is increasingly important. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, approximately 12% of global cargo transportation passes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
Since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Yemen’s Houthi armed forces have frequently launched missile and drone attacks on Israel on the grounds of “supporting Palestine” and have continuously attacked ships “associated with Israel” in the Red Sea. In view of the increasingly frequent news of commercial ships being attacked near the Red Sea-Mandeb Strait, many shipping giants around the world – Swiss Mediterranean, Danish Maersk, French CMA CGM, German Hapag-Lloyd, etc. have announced to avoid the Red Sea route. As of December 18, 2023, the world’s top five international shipping companies have announced the suspension of sailings on the Red Sea-Suez waterway. In addition, COSCO, Orient Overseas Shipping (OOCL) and Evergreen Marine Corporation (EMC) also said that their container ships will suspend sailings in the Red Sea. At this point, the world’s major container shipping companies have started or are about to suspend sailings on the Red Sea-Suez route.
The Red Sea crisis has restricted bookings on all westbound routes in East Asia, including to the Middle East, Red Sea, North Africa, Black Sea, eastern Mediterranean, western Mediterranean and northwest Europe.