COPENHAGEN, Denmark: According to Danish shipping company Maersk, disruptions to container transport via the Red Sea are projected to persist until the third quarter, making the upcoming months difficult for carriers and enterprises.
Maersk and other shipping companies have diverted vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in the Red Sea, with the longer voyage times pushing freight rates higher.
“The longer that this lasts, the more our costs will get deeply ingrained,” Maersk said in a statement, citing comments made by CEO Vincent Clerc at “a recent online event with customers.”
“We don’t know yet exactly how much of these costs we will recover and for how long. The higher rates we are seeing right now are of a temporary nature,” Clerc said.
Maersk expects to have missing positions or ships that differ in size from what the company would normally have on a given string, it said, adding that this would reduce the company’s ability to carry the current demand.
