Spanish company: Red Sea crisis raises maritime shipping costs by 300%

The Red Sea crisis raises maritime shipping costs by 300 per cent.  

Spanish credit insurer Credito y Caucion has said that the crisis in the Red Sea is a "new threat to global trade" and has already led to a 300 per cent increase in the cost of shipping by sea, according to TASS.

"Attacks against container carriers in the Red Sea have raised the cost of maritime shipping by 300 per cent" and "made inflation risks worse," the insurer said. "The increase is associated with the need for commercial vehicles to select longer and more expensive routes to avoid the conflict zone and bear higher insurance costs," the Spanish company noted.

Most economists expect the situation to continue at least in the short term but the longer the crisis lasts, "the more grave the consequences will be," the insurer said. "About 30 per cent of all container shipments pass via the Red Sea - the critical channel for cargo carriage from the Asia-Pacific to Europe," Credito y Caucion stressed. "Closing the Red Sea route could slash throughput capacity of international marine transportation by about 20 per cent," the company added.

The situation in the Red Sea is leading to delays in the arrival of ships to the kingdom and an increase in the cost of transport, a Spanish ports supervision authority told TASS earlier.