Shipping costs soaring as Red Sea crisis continues

2024-01-05

Freight costs are soaring as the crisis in the Red Sea continues unabated. Attacks on shipping vessels by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have forced carriers to divert their cargo, taking a longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope. Experts say that if the crisis is not resolved, it could result in higher prices for Taiwan’s consumers.

Natasha Bertrand
CNN reporter
The uptick that we have seen is really remarkable, it has really ensnared international shipping and commerce.

With shipping attacks continuing in the Red Sea, freight firms have been forced to avoid the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Asia and Europe. The canal handles some 12% of the world’s shipping traffic each year. The new longer routes have added days of travel time, raising freight costs, delaying deliveries, and hurting global trade.

Anna Stewart
CNN reporter
There are a number of concerns here, for oil particularly. First of all, this is an important route for oil tankers of course, and some of them like BP are already taking a very long route around. There’s also a big risk of escalation at this stage.

Carriers have already diverted more than US$200 billion in trade from the Red Sea. Assuming a cruising speed of 15 knots, redirected freight must travel at least 10 extra days, raising costs for fuel and crew labor. Analysts say that if the crisis continues unabated, these higher costs will be eventually be borne by consumers, posing a fresh inflation risk.

Wang Ching-feng
Shipping expert
Some estimate the delay to be 15 days. There are extra transport costs and fuel costs. And now there’s also a container detention and demurrage charge. Altogether, these fees have already exceeded freight rates of the containers. The likelihood of the crisis abating over the short term is not high.

In this week alone, cargo rates for Asia to Europe have doubled. To make matters worse, the Panama Canal is cutting 40% of its vessel traffic due to drought. The longer wait times are set to further raise costs for shipping between the U.S. and Europe. Although the crisis has boosted Taiwan’s shipping stocks, by up to 30%, experts warn that the gains are short-lived. Once the Red Sea crisis is resolved, they say, stock prices are expected to correct.

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"紅海危機"未停改繞非洲好望角成本大增

2024-01-05

紅海危機持續延燒，大大影響國際貿易，因為蘇伊士運河一整年的運量，就佔全球貿易量12%。專家分析，最近衝突不見緩和，船商改繞過非洲好望角，至少多10天以上航程，燃料費、保險和船員薪資成本大增，運費節節攀升，恐怕也會轉嫁到客戶和消費者身上。

[[CNN記者娜塔莎伯特蘭(1.3) ]]
“我們觀察到，情勢升溫的狀況顯著，使國際航運和貿易陷入窘況。”

紅海危機延燒，船運業者只好放棄往返歐亞最短的航線-蘇伊士運河，改繞非洲好望角。以蘇伊士運河整年的貨運量來看，就佔了全球貿易量12%，航線距離大增、時間拉長情況下，貨運成本大增，交貨延誤，衝擊全球貿易。

[[CNN記者安娜史都華(1.3)]]
“有許多的擔憂，尤其是石油，首先，這對油輪來說，是非常重要的航線，當然，有些油商，例如BP已經改走較遠的的航線，現階段升溫的風險還是大。”

全球已經有超過2000億美元的貿易繞道，以15節的速度來算，至少增加10天的航行時間，期間多出來的燃料費、船員伙食和薪水，保險費用都會增加。專家分析，如果衝突遲遲不降溫，推升的成本，可能轉嫁到客戶和消費者身上，是否對通膨多了個不確定因素。

[[航運專家王清風]]
“有的會預估到15天(延遲)。運輸的附加費、燃料的附加費，現在還有一個占櫃費，那這個加總起來，就已經超過貨櫃的運價。現在目前短時間之內，要把這個放緩的機會並不高。”

光這個星期，歐亞運費已經翻倍，加上美洲巴拿馬運河也因為水位低，原本一天至少可以通過36艘船，現在只剩6成運量，歐美兩區的運費節節攀升。雖然紅海事件帶動航運股表現，航運三雄股價在過去一個月，有1到3成漲幅，但專家提醒，紅海危機屬於短期因素，一旦情況趨緩，股價會有所修正，提醒投資人留意。

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