Houthis’ Red Sea attacks spike Asia-Morocco shipping cost by over 60%
The hijacking of commercial ships and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have disrupted global supply chains and sparked a jump in Asia-Morocco shipping costs by 60% to 100%.
“The cost of shipping a 20-foot container from Shanghai to Casablanca increased from $1,450 to $2,800 (from €1,324 to €2,557) since last month’s 15th,” Rachid Tahiri, the president of the Association of Freight Forwarders of Morocco (AFFM) told Spanish news agency EFE.
Tahiri said that if the conflict persists, it will impact imports or exports like perishable products such as tomatoes and fish.
Weeks-long attacks on commercial vessels led global shipping firms- including Denmarks’s Maersk and Taiwan’s Evergreen- to avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, opting instead for the longer detour around the entire African continent via South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
The longer route means additional shipping costs and late deliveries. The new journey will add from a week to ten days or about 6,482 kilometers.
About 60% of Europe’s imports comes through the Suez Canal, which accounts for about 15% of the global trade.
The disruption of supply chains and trade routes with Asia means that European investors seeking competitive production costs would relocate to closer destinations such as Morocco and Turkey, economy expert Pierre Cariou told French paper l’Express.
A group of countries led by the United States have warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels of “consequences” unless they stop their attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels.
The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan are among the 12 signatories.
The only country in the Middle East to sign the statement was Bahrain, which has a strained relationship with Iran, which is aligned with the Houthis.
The US has sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, to the area and earlier announced a coalition of countries to protect movement in the Red Sea.
