2024-01-12T18:13:06+00:00
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/ Shipping sector officials revealed, today, Friday, an increase in container shipping prices across major global routes this week, which threatens a new round of global inflation, while officials express pessimism that the crisis will continue for additional months and worsen, especially after the American and British air strikes on Yemen.
American and British warplanes, ships and submarines carried out dozens of attacks across Yemen during the night in response to the Houthi forces attacking shipping traffic in the Red Sea, which expands the scope of the conflict resulting from Israel’s war on Gaza throughout the region.
Most container ships avoid passing through the nearby Suez Canal, a shortcut from Asia to Europe through which nearly a third of container ship cargo passes.
The recent escalation has raised fears that oil tankers and bulk carriers, which transport vital goods such as grains, will also avoid it, which threatens a new round of global inflation, according to a Reuters report.
The Shanghai Container Freight Benchmark Index rose more than 16 percent on a weekly basis today to 2,206 points. The index, which measures “spot” prices for containerized freight from China’s ports, has risen 114 percent since mid-December.
Leading ship broker Clarksons said that freight rates on the route from Shanghai to Europe rose 8.1 percent to $3,103 per 20-foot container today compared to a week ago, while the price of shipping containers to the West Coast of the United States jumped 43.2 percent to $3,974 per 40-foot container. On a weekly basis.
“The longer the crisis lasts, the more disruption it will cause to shipping goods by sea around the world, and costs will continue to rise,” Peter Sand, chief analyst at Zenita Shipping Platform, said today.
He added, “We have months, not weeks or days, before this crisis reaches a solution of any kind,” referring to the worsening conflict.