NOW that the Cape route in the Asia-Europe trade has become the standard diversion as rocket attacks on the Suez route enters its second year, shipping costs are mounting, reports the New York Times.
On average, 136 containerships a week have travelled around the Cape of Good Hope this year, compared with 40 before the Houthi attacks started, according to data from Lloyd's List Intelligence, a shipping analytics company.
The cost of shipping a container from Asia to Northern Europe is up 270 per cent in 12 months, according to Freightos, a digital marketplace for shipping.
The cost of shipping a container from China to a West Coast port in the United States is up 217 per cent over 12 months.
Some importers have been hit with much larger increases.
Vassilis Korkidis, president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce in Greece and head of a maritime electronics company, said he paid US$8,700 for a 40-foot container of goods shipped from Shanghai in September, four times as much as a year earlier because of the longer trip.
'We have considerable delays and an incredible increase in transport costs,' he said.
Economists say the Houthi attacks have contributed to inflation around the world, and importers fear the higher costs will become permanent.
'We want to make sure that the world's governments don't see this as a new normal,' said Steve Lamar, president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association.
Last month, the group called on President Joe Biden to do more to stop the Houthis, who have carried out some 130 attacks on commercial ships in 12 months, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a crisis monitoring organisation.
Before the Houthi attacks, the canal handled 10 per cent of world trade and more than a fifth of global container shipments, according to the United Nations.
The Red Sea upheaval came just as importers were enjoying some of the lowest shipping rates in years, thanks to a glut of freighters when they were flush with profits from the Covid trade boom.
SeaNews Turkey
On average, 136 containerships a week have travelled around the Cape of Good Hope this year, compared with 40 before the Houthi attacks started, according to data from Lloyd's List Intelligence, a shipping analytics company.
The cost of shipping a container from Asia to Northern Europe is up 270 per cent in 12 months, according to Freightos, a digital marketplace for shipping.
The cost of shipping a container from China to a West Coast port in the United States is up 217 per cent over 12 months.
Some importers have been hit with much larger increases.
Vassilis Korkidis, president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce in Greece and head of a maritime electronics company, said he paid US$8,700 for a 40-foot container of goods shipped from Shanghai in September, four times as much as a year earlier because of the longer trip.
'We have considerable delays and an incredible increase in transport costs,' he said.
Economists say the Houthi attacks have contributed to inflation around the world, and importers fear the higher costs will become permanent.
'We want to make sure that the world's governments don't see this as a new normal,' said Steve Lamar, president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association.
Last month, the group called on President Joe Biden to do more to stop the Houthis, who have carried out some 130 attacks on commercial ships in 12 months, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a crisis monitoring organisation.
Before the Houthi attacks, the canal handled 10 per cent of world trade and more than a fifth of global container shipments, according to the United Nations.
The Red Sea upheaval came just as importers were enjoying some of the lowest shipping rates in years, thanks to a glut of freighters when they were flush with profits from the Covid trade boom.
SeaNews Turkey