Shipowner Angeliki Fragou, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Maritime Partners L.P., described the shipping situation as manageable despite geopolitical developments, in her speech at the Economist conference “The World Ahead 2024: Athens Gala Dinner.”
She underlined that the shipping sector is responsible for 90% of world trade, as it is the most efficient way to transfer products, and she attributed the increase in prices to the lack of transport means mainly as a result of wars or natural disasters. Referring to the effects of the war in Ukraine, she described them as “manageable” in a short period of time.
“This is the third winter that we have effectively dealt with problems in the transportation of goods, as Europe was 55% dependent on oil and natural gas from Russia,” she said.
As she noted, the shipping industry has solved the problem, making use of financial resources by “building” liquefied natural gas storage units and also implementing a regasification project in 2024.
As for LNG import, she stressed that there will be a 34% higher capacity in 2024 compared to 2021. She pointed out that the same applies to oil and grain, while, referring to the situation in the Red Sea from the ongoing attacks against shipping by the Houthis, she described this problem as “resolvable.”
The increase in travel days by an extra 10 days, and the distance by 30% due to the need to re-route around Africa, creates an inflationary pressure problem, but this is also manageable, according to Fragou.
The situation we experienced after the pandemic was more serious, as she noted, because the need to transport products increased rapidly and there was no more capacity on ships.
