HPGLY - Suez Canal traffic tie-up sends shipping costs soaring

Shipping rates are surging and companies are considering more costly alternative routes around Africa, as the blockage of the Suez Canal wreaks havoc in the global seaborne trade.According to Bloomberg, the cost to ship a 40-ft. container from China to Europe has climbed to ~$8K, up nearly 4x Y/Y; Suezmax vessels, which typically carry 1M barrels of oil, are now going for ~$17K/day, the most since last June.The number of ships waiting to enter the Suez Canal reportedly climbed to 238 today, compared with 186 yesterday and ~100 at the start of the blockage.Maersk (AMKBY) and Hapag-Lloyd (HPGLY), two of the world's largest container carriers, say they are considering sending ships around Africa to avoid the bottleneck.Nordic American Tankers (NAT) says a longer voyage around Africa would lock up more shipping capacity, which would reduce the effective number of voyages the world fleet can perform and result in higher freight

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Suez Canal traffic tie-up sends shipping costs soaring