Avoiding Suez will have knock-on effect on costs, says official

Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Vassilis Korkidis warned on Thursday that with 90% of world trade carried by sea, the effect on transit prices from the attacks on commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, not only on trade but also on fuel costs, is inevitable.

“If the intervention of the US with the first group of EU countries and NATO, which took action to safeguard the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, does not pay off soon, then the economic losses will reach many billions of dollars every day on a global scale. The 10-day closure of the canal two years ago caused a two-week delay in arrivals at Piraeus and other Mediterranean ports, as well as three to four weeks of additional time for final deliveries of goods. The delay of the ships, with cargoes worth more than $9 billion, is estimated to have cost, on a global scale, about $6 billion for each week of delay. However, fares favored, especially for oil tankers, which doubled due to the rerouting of many ships on the long 15,000-mile route around Africa, while greater demand for ships was created due to the stranding of 320 ships in the Suez,” Korkidis stated.