News Summary

• That’s about a quarter of all the container-shipping capacity in the world, according to the digital logistics platform.“We haven’t seen costs increase this quickly since the last crunch in the pandemic,” said Vincent Iacopella, a logistics expert at Alba Wheels Up..
• (Bloomberg) — Two months of missile, drone and hijacking attacks against civilian ships in the Red Sea have caused the biggest diversion of international trade in decades, pushing up costs for shippers as far away as Asia and North America..
• Many of the underlying bottlenecks in supply chains remain, even though prices dropped last year as the Covid-19 disruptions faded, he said..
• “This is perhaps predicated on a misguided assumption that the Israel-Hamas conflict remains contained.”Though there’s no sign the higher costs are boosting inflation yet, central bankers are already warning of the risks..
• “That could be really something that then focuses the mind.”Bloomberg Economics says the upside risks from shipping costs could offer central banks another reason to delay interest-rate cuts..
• Most Middle East crude bound for the US Gulf Coast already goes around the Cape of Good Hope because it’s carried in tankers too big to fit through the Suez Canal when fully loaded.China has so far steered clear of the Red Sea conflict..