Due to the crown pandemic and the war in Ukraine, major international trading ports around the world are currently overloaded, Allianz’s industrial insurer AGCS reports.
The war has exacerbated supply problems caused by the pandemic, port congestion, and problems with recruiting ship crews, experts write in the new edition of their annual shipping risk analysis.
In the world’s largest port, Shanghai itself, it could take months to resume normal operations after the blockade, which is still ongoing, says risk adviser AGCS Anastasios Leonburg. “I don’t think it will be resolved quickly in the near future.”
The lockdown in Shanghai means many products such as Nutella, vacuum cleaners and I-Phone are becoming scarcer.
China’s pandemic policy is becoming a big problem
It is difficult to make a forecast, because it depends on the actions of the Chinese authorities and the development of the pandemic in China.
In the opinion of Allianz, shipping capacity is generally too low. Therefore, 7.5 million new containers have been ordered by large international shipping companies. You have to build a lot more containers.
In addition to delivery problems, experts see further threats to shipping, mainly of a technical nature. Total losses have more than halved in the last ten years, said Justus Heinrich, head of AGCS ship insurance for Central Europe.
Much fewer ships sunk
In 2012, there were still 127 ships that sank or were irreparably damaged, and last year only 54. However, as container ships keep getting bigger, they often no longer have a port to call in in the event of a fire on board.
According to AGCS estimates, undeclared dangerous goods are secretly transported in around five percent of the containers shipped worldwide. More than 70 fires have broken out on container ships in the last five years.
Shipowners also emphasized that shipping becomes safer and safer. “Although there are more and more merchant ships and even though there are also more and more very large container ships, the number of serious accidents has been steadily declining over the years,” said managing director Martin Kröger. (SDA)