In particular, the HYDRA frigate in the morning hours on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 in the Gulf of Aden, providing protection to a merchant ship, fired a gun against 2 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), in accordance with the current Rules of Engagement, which were then removed.
The frigate continues its mission normally.
The effects that the port of Piraeus is already experiencing due to the Houthi rebels’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea are very great. Container traffic has decreased significantly, while business costs have increased due to the significant delays recorded. The bill for the effects of the Red Sea will come retroactively, will be “inflated” and will bring new burdens on both the Greek and the European market.
The Red Sea crisis, if it continues, will have an even greater impact on Greek businesses, with many bracing for further increases in the price of consumer products and delays in their arrival on store shelves as, based on BSE analysis, it increases costs (a container from Asia to Europe reaches 7,000 euros) and transport time (2 to 4 weeks longer), delays delivery time (at least 20 days, especially for Eastern Mediterranean ports), raises insurance premiums and costs of raw materials, while it also has negative consequences for employment.
The risk of causing new inflationary pressures in the eurozone is visible due to the difficult situation in which commodity flows are, while the IMF estimates an increase in inflation on an annual basis in 2024 by 0.6%-0.7%. Also, European industrial production is in a “turbulent sea”, since 37 critical raw materials in minerals and metals, as well as 30 rare earths, are imported by 98% from Asian countries, of which 85% from China.
According to the president of EBEP, Vassilis Korkidis, the movement of import containers in the port of Piraeus since the beginning of the year decreased by 45%, while exports by 14% and transshipment by 20%. The port of Piraeus, from being the first in the Mediterranean, in order of approach for ships passing through the Suez Canal, has turned into the last, according to the latest data, since the change of route by crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, while the arrivals they are delayed by 14-19 days due to the circumnavigation of Africa. The commercial arm of the port decreased by 12% in January this year. At the same time, freight costs for 40-foot containers from Shanghai to Piraeus rose in January with rates tripling from $1,875 to $6,150, to settle in February between $4,800-$5,700. It is typical that in 2023 Piraeus received 2.6 million containers via Suez, which means 50,000 per week.
The DBRS rating agency expects a load drop of around 30% or more for Piraeus. “We will continue to monitor the situation, especially when ships coming from Asia and the Middle East start arriving in Europe. Container shipping giants CMA CGM, Cosco Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line have decided to stop their weekly sailings from Asia to Piraeus, which was a stopover to Northern Europe. At the same time, Maersk and other container shipping companies have changed their route to the Cape of Good Hope, which does not enter the Eastern and Central Mediterranean Sea,” DBRS reports.
CHRISTOS STYLIANIDES
“Strong European shipping means strong Greek shipping”
“There are competitiveness problems of the European economies and at the same time the game of competitiveness has changed on many levels. To all this should be added the pandemic, geopolitics, the Ukrainian, what is happening in the Red Sea, what is happening in Gaza. We should, therefore, take them into account as geopolitical parameters and keep, at all costs, the competitiveness of the European economy very high. The competitiveness of the European economy is based on a strong European shipping. And a strong European shipping is based on a strong Greek shipping. Things have this order, this hierarchy”, said the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Christos Stylianidis, in yesterday’s meeting with journalists, emphasizing the decisive role that Greece has in the effort to ensure peace in the region and characterizing the participation as very important us in the “Shields” program, which is fully operational.
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