KARACHI: In Pakistan general inflation is constantly soaring, already surpassing almost 45% and it is expected to go even higher, said Ateeq ur Rehman, economic and financial analyst.
The new situation of re-routing of ships in Red Sea with unavoidable longer voyages and additional payments like “transit disruption surcharges and peak season surcharge” would hugely increase the sea freight and two/ three weeks delay in delivery, thus creating a challenging situation for exporters to meet the quotations, cost and competition.
At times, we import wheat and the ship route diversions consequently will increase sea freight and also the import cost of wheat further hiking the price of flour and inflation, added Ateeq.
He said a 10-days voyage is now expected to take about 27 days, which is a challenging condition for reefer containers. He said most likely the reefer containers will face plug-in issues and cost of their functioning will be escalated because of the special equipment attached for its functioning.
He said that the recent problems of hike in shipping freight and longer voyage are seriously big problems. The exporters and importers would look for a relief to the government, he said. There has to be an incentive for opting to air cargo, he suggested.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.