Shipping industry set for tougher times ahead due to West Asia tensions: Experts

Israel- Iran conflict | Global maritime industry faces challenges due to Middle East tensions, impacting supply chains and shipping routes, experts warn.

The global maritime industry is set for tougher and more challenging times due to the increasing tensions in the Middle East, causing supply chain disruption and increasing the probability of choking shipping routes, experts here have said.

Iran launched 330 missiles and drones on Israel on April 13 in retaliation to an attack by Israel on a diplomatic mission of the Islamic Republic in Damascus on April 1 in which several people, including two top commanders, were killed.

There is a concern about the probability of a Persian Gulf shutdown though many maintain hope of defusing fierce tension in the region, a delegate at the opening of Singapore Maritime Week on Monday, told PTI. The Persian Gulf is a Mediterranean Sea in West Asia. It is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most strategically important choke points.

The diversion of each ship is estimated to cost $30 million through the Cape of Good Hope from the Suez Canal, according to Danish Sultan, managing director of PacMarine Services in Singapore.

The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia.

“With 80-85% of the global cargo transported by ships, the shipping industry will have to go on in any environment,” he pointed out.

Shipping costs have already gone up by three to four times compared to pre-Covid level, Colin Er Wen-Jie, director of the transport department at the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp said at the Singapore Maritime conference being held April 15-19 and is attended by over 10,000 delegates.