The impact of the Red Sea crisis is less severe than Covid-19, although the TEU-mile boost has been significant.

Clarksons’ latest Container Intelligence Monthly stated that compared with December 2023, TEU-miles have gone up by around 11%, as around 620 ships of 8.5 million TEUs are rerouting from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks from Houthi rebels.

Contextualised against Covid-19, where surging e-commerce sales and heightened inspections caused logistical bottlenecks worldwide, Clarksons said that the Red Sea effect has been milder.

The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index hit 5,110 points in January 2022, but currently, the index has been hovering around 2,200 points.

“Indeed, while shipper costs have increased significantly amid current disruption, they remain well below those during the pandemic.”

The world’s largest shipbroker illustrated that the cost of shipping a pair of shoes from Asia to Europe went up by 21 US cents in early December 2023 to 78 US cents in mid-January 2024, but remains below the January peak of US$1.95.