Suez Canal Blockage Could Cost Global Trade $6B-$10B per Week: Allianz

BERLIN – The container ship blocking the Suez Canal could cost global trade $6 billion to $10 billion a week, a study by German insurer Allianz showed on Friday.

The study by Europe’s biggest insurer also found that each week of immobilization shaves some 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points off annual trade growth.

“The problem is that the Suez Canal blockage is the straw that breaks global trade’s back,” the study’s authors wrote.

“First, suppliers’ delivery times have lengthened since the start of the year and are now longer in Europe than during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The length of delivery times in the United States was twice as bad, the study said, as inventories are depleted on expectations that President Joe Biden’s massive stimulus package will boost demand.

The Suez Canal stepped up efforts on Friday to free the giant stuck container ship and end a blockage that has sent shipping rates for fuel tankers soaring and disrupted global supply chains.

(Reporting by Rene Wagner and Christian Kraemer; writing by Joseph Nasr)

Photograph: This photo released by the Suez Canal Authority on Wednesday, March 24, shows container ship, the Ever Given, which has become wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal, blocking all traffic in the vital waterway. Photo credit: Suez Canal Authority via AP.

Related:

• Container Ship Could Block Suez Canal Like a ‘Beached Whale’ for Weeks
• Insurers of Container Ship Aground in Suez Canal Face Millions in Claims
• Huge Backlog of Ships Waits for Salvage Team to Re-Float Vessel Blocking Suez Canal

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