The United Nations warned consumers around the world on Friday to prepare to start paying more for almost everything, if they haven't already started.
The grim prediction was that attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine, and the declining waters of the Panama Canal would disrupt global trade, and that the increased on-costs of those events would be passed directly to consumers.
AP report Jan Hoffmann, a trade expert at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said overall transport costs were already rising, as energy and food prices were particularly vulnerable to supply chain bottlenecks, raising the risk of inflation. He said there was.
Since attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi terrorists began in November, major players in the shipping industry have been forced to take advantage of Egypt's Suez Canal, a key waterway connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and a key route for energy and energy. He said the company had temporarily suspended its use. The report notes that cargo is being transported between Asia and Europe.
The US and UK have launched an increasing number of counterattacks against Houthi terrorists to clear the way, but shipping companies are now reluctant to use traditional routes.
The US and UK have so far targeted 91 Iranian-backed Houthi strongholds in Yemen, which have attacked ships bound for Israel from the Red Sea under the pretext of aiding Gaza. (Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Hoffman said the Suez Canal handled 12-15% of global trade in 2023, but UNCTAD estimates trade volumes through the canal have fallen by 42% in the past two months.
As Breitbart News reported, global shipping giant Maersk is just one of the canal users currently forced to send ships elsewhere.
Houthi attacks come at a time when other major trade routes are under disruption, Hoffman, head of Geneva-based UNCTAD's trade and logistics division, said in a video news conference.
Nearly two years of war and other geopolitical tensions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, have reshaped the oil and petroleum landscape. grain trade route iThis includes via the Black Sea, he said.
Further exacerbating the difficulties for shipping companies, Hoffman said a severe drought has caused water levels in the Panama Canal to drop to their lowest levels in decades, significantly reducing the number and size of ships that can use the canal. He said that he is doing so.
Tourists visit the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal on January 10, 2024. The drought affecting the Panama Canal is limiting the number of ships passing through the waterway. (Martin Burnetti/AFP via Getty Images)
The sum that passes through panama canal Hoffman said December sales were 36% lower than a year ago and 62% lower than two years ago.
In terms of costs, he said, average container shipping spot rates from Shanghai have increased by 122 percent since early December, while rates from Shanghai to Europe have increased by 256 percent and rates to the U.S. West Coast have increased by 162 percent.
“The global impact of the crisis can be seen as ships seek alternative routes to avoid the Suez and Panama Canals,” Hoffman said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
