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

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

"Attacks against container carriers in the Red Sea have raised the cost of maritime shipping by 300%" 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% 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%," it 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.

Crisis in Red Sea to end when war in Gaza ends, claims Qatari diplomat

Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea will stop when the conflict in the Gaza Strip is ended, Majed al-Ansari, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman, said.

"We support all regional efforts to reduce escalation," he told a news conference in Doha, commenting on the situation around the safety of navigation in the Red Sea. "We say once again that this problem began after the escalation in the occupied [Palestinian] territories, hence, it will be over when this escalation ends, first of all when the war there ends."