The threat to vessels in the Indian Ocean has only added to the difficulties. “This has forced our vessels to lengthen their journey further, resulting in additional time and costs to get your cargo to its destination for the time being,” Maersk said.
The company estimated that putting extra ships and equipment onto the Asia-to-Europe route would result in a 15 percent to 20 percent drop in industrywide capacity in the three months through the end of June.
That said, shipping companies have plenty of capacity available because they have ordered many new ships in recent years.
Maersk said on Monday that customers should expect higher surcharges on shipping invoices as a result of the higher costs borne by the shipping line, which include a 40 percent increase in fuel use per journey.
The cost of shipping a container from Asia to a northern European port was $3,550 last week, according to Freightos, a digital shipping marketplace, down from a recent high of $5,492 in January and well below rates that climbed above $14,000 when global shipping became snarled during the coronavirus pandemic.