“Over 200,000 containers have not arrived in Piraeus so far due to the situation in the Red Sea,” Yiannis Chatzitheodosiou, president of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, said in an interview on “Naftemporiki” TV.
“As long as this crisis lasts, ships cannot pass through the Red Sea. This means a delay of ten to twenty days for the products to arrive at the port of Piraeus,” he explained and added: “The cost of each container has also risen from 1,800 euros to 6,500 via the alternative route.”
However, there are other reasons that have affected the sector such as drought-induced water shortages that have severely curtailed daily transits through the Panama Canal.”No more than 24 ships pass through the Gulf of Panama compared to 42 ships in the past. Many of them have been transferred to the US.”
“As long as the war continues, besides the inconvenience and increased cost, shortages will occur. Because there will be a great demand for ships and less supplies,” Chatzitheodosiou warned.
“Greece imports mainly electrical goods, mobile phones and clothes from the Far East. We have stock for a period of 15-20 days, but if it lasts more than a month then there will be shortages and any products that come will be much more expensive. Among these products is oil. So we have to be prepared for higher fuel prices,” he pointed out.
