- Situation in the Middle East is still severely disrupting shipping and supply chains
- Hopefully the Strait of Hormuz will reopen
- About 1,000 ships are still stuck in the region, six of which are from Hapag-Llyod
- None of our ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz
- The extra costs per week due to the crisis are around $50 million to $60 million
- We have no choice but to pass on some of that to customers
- Middle East situation remains very fluid at the moment
- Even though news of ceasefire is good, we won't have a normal network for at least another 6-8 weeks
- We will open up for bookings into the Upper Gulf area hopefully fairly soon
While markets are busy cheering on the ceasefire news, the reality of the situation on the ground is still filled with much uncertainty. And it definitely seems like a lot of commercial vessels will still be guarded in wanting to try their luck in passing through the Strait of Hormuz at this point in time.
As mentioned before, any reopening is going to be a slow trickle rather than the floodgates being opened and a rush comes in. We might juts see an uptick from 6-7 vessels per day to maybe something between 10-20 vessels. And if so, that is a far cry from the usual roughly 120-130 vessels that passes through the strait on a daily basis before the conflict began.
For now, the ceasefire news is the best markets can hope for in terms of buying time for added relief. However, that seems to be exactly what it is. Just to buy time so that hopefully more positive news can come in eventually.
But until then, the risk is always going to be there as the strait remains in de facto or partial closure.
