Denmark last week joined a U.S. statement warning the Houthis to halt their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

"It will come with a huge bill if the Houthis succeed in forcing international shipping traffic away from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. 12% of all civilian ships sail through exactly that strait," Lokke Rasmussen said.

Maersk said earlier this month it was diverting all container vessels from Red Sea routes around Africa's Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future, and warned customers to prepare for significant disruption.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen)