The Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the turmoil that they have caused have led to a smaller than expected drop in the port of Piraeus.
In order to avoid the attacks of the Houthis, the great majority of liners have re-routed their vessels around the southern tip of Africa.
According to “Naftemporiki” sources, despite estimates for a 30% reduction in traffic at the large port of Piraeus in the first month of 2024, the losses are ultimately much smaller. In piers II and III of the Container Terminal, managed by Cosco’s subsidiary, SEP S.A., losses range from 10% to 15% compared to January 2023.
Even in December 2023, when the Houthi attacks on commercial ships had already created major problems in the ships’ routes, the decline was only 0.5% compared to the corresponding month of 2022.
The same sources reported that a decision was taken at the headquarters of the Chinese group Cosco, which controls Greece’s largest port, to support their base in Europe, maintaining the large service with containerships of 20,000 teu (with with CMA CGM and Evergreen), despite the longer time it takes ships to go around Africa and enter the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to reach us.
Generally, it seems that there is a great demand in the port of Algeria, as well as Barcelona and Valencia, while some vessels reach as far as Gioia Tauro in Italy.
Several ships also board directly at Northern European ports. This situation, however, people in the market pointed out, is not easy to continue for a long time, since there will be congestion in the specific ports.
At the same time, many companies have not yet had time to rearrange the itineraries of the feeder ships.
In any case, however, 2024 is still a difficult year, after the pandemic, for the port industry, since, according to the estimates of the liners (Hapag Lloyd), even if a ceasefire agreement is reached, the “turbulence” will continue for some time.
