The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that the Canadian National Railway is girding itself for ripple effects from the conflict in the Red Sea. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that the missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have pushed major container carriers to steer clear of the area. The longer travel time and scrambled schedules have resulted in delays of up to three weeks on the majority of container ships slated to roll into the Port of Halifax -- a key hub for CN -- over the next month. The crisis has also pushed many shippers who recently switched to the Suez Canal to return to transpacific routes between Asia and North America, after abandoning them due in part to bottlenecks at the Panama Canal. CN's Doug MacDonald said that while shipments to the East Coast from Asia might be disrupted, the company expects operations to quicken at the West Coast ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert. "We're starting to hear, with the different problems about the Panama and the Suez Canal, that the West Coast is looking like a more viable option moving forward," Mr. MacDonald told analysts on a conference call.