Red Sea attacks delaying goods and pushing up costs, firms say

Higher shipping costs and delays of up to four weeks due to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, a business group said.

“The pressures are getting higher and higher and there’s only so long that costs can be absorbed… [The scale of price rises] is not as high as the pandemic – but these cannot be kept away from prices for long.”

Rerouting shipments around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, was adding an extra three to four weeks to delivery times, the BCC said, with some firms citing price rises of more than 300% for container hire, it said.