TAIPEI: The traffic volume of the Suez Canal dropped by more than 40 per cent as Yemen rebels repeatedly attacked merchant ships.
According to United Nations data, commercial traffic through the Suez Canal has dropped by more than 40 per cent in the past two months since the Houthi attacks, sparking United Nations concerns about global trade.
Jan Hoffman, president of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told reporters today, “We are very concerned that attacks on shipping in the Red Sea will exacerbate global trade tensions and add to existing trade disruptions caused by geopolitics and climate change”.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that in the past two months, ships were diverted from the Red Sea to South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, resulting in a 42 per cent drop in traffic through the Suez Canal. Egypt’s Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean and Red Sea.
Hoffman said that more than 80 per cent of international trade in goods is transported by sea. “Sea transport is indeed the lifeline of global trade”.
According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the number of container ships passing through the Suez Canal each week has decreased by 67 per cent compared with the same period last year, and more than 20 per cent of global container trade passes through the Suez Canal.
“Considering that it was mainly large container ships that were diverted from the Suez Canal, the decline in container traffic was even greater”, Hoffman said. Oil tanker traffic fell by 18 per cent, and bulk ship traffic carrying grain and coal also fell by 6 per cent. While natural gas transportation was flat.
Overall, 12 per cent to 15 per cent of global trade, or approximately 20,000 ships, pass through the Red Sea every year, travelling between Europe and Asia.
The situation is getting more serious as other international maritime trade routes are also in danger of being disrupted. Since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, the movement of goods through the Black Sea has been severely restricted, sending global grain prices soaring.
In addition, drought in Central America has caused water levels in the Panama Canal to drop, significantly reducing traffic through this important route.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development warned: “Long-term disruption of major trade routes will disrupt global supply chains, leading to delivery delays, increased costs and potential inflation.” (ANI/CNA)