The cost of maritime freight is reaching record levels at the start of 2024, with global companies announcing exorbitant rates. And for good reason, the attacks on merchant ships perpetrated by the Houthis of Yemen in the Red Sea, disrupting the logistics of international trade. The rise in prices could lead European manufacturers to relocate to Morocco.

Shipping companies are being forced to take alternative routes to ensure the safety of their ships, abandoning the Suez Canal in favor of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, making the journey longer and more expensive, L'Economiste explains in its edition of Monday, January 8, 2024.

French group CMA CGM has announced a revision of its rates with a 100% increase for container freight between Asia and the Mediterranean from January 15.

The cost of shipping a 40-foot container between Asia and the Western Mediterranean will double from $3 to $000. Other companies such as MSC and Maersk have also raised their rates, imposing significant additional charges on various trade routes.

"For a 20-foot container, it will cost $3.500 (compared to $2.000). As for trade between Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, the freight for a 40-foot container will cost $6.200 compared to the $3.200 applied until now.

A peak season surcharge (PSS) of $200 per unit has also been applied since January 1 to containers from Turkey to Morocco, Tunisia, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Levant and the Black Sea.

The Italian-Swiss shipping company, MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), has also revised its prices upwards with additional charges of 1.000 to 2.000 dollars per container for trade between the Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa or the Indian subcontinent," the economic daily explains.

And to point out that Maersk, the Danish shipping company, has decided to divert its fleet around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea, imposing additional costs on the transport of containers from Asia to Europe, the Mediterranean and North America.

German carrier Hapag-Lloyd has also introduced peak season surcharges for container shipments from Asia to northwest Africa.

This increase in maritime freight prices, representing 80% of world trade, risks worsening inflation on a global scale. The crisis in the Red Sea could, however, present itself as an opportunity for Morocco, encouraging European industrialists to consider production in Morocco rather than in Asia, according to economist Pierre Cariou.

 HASSAN MANYANI