Global: Ports in regions near the Red Sea suffer a noticeable drop in ship calls

With more than half a year now since the start of the Red Sea crisis, the severe impact on the container shipping industry continues unabated. Sea-Intelligence notes the decline in the number of deepwater port calls in the key regions closest to the Suez Canal: the Eastern Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea itself. According to Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence, while the total number of monthly deepwater port calls in the Eastern Mediterranean was already on a downward trend before the crisis, the monthly drop in January 2024 was quite significant at -22%. Compared to the pre-crisis average, the drop in 2024 was -33%. A similar -33% drop in the average number of monthly calls was also observed in the Gulf of Aden, from around 100 calls per month to 60-70 in 2024. As in the Eastern Mediterranean, port calls in the region have been recovering, albeit very slowly. The Red Sea suffered the most severe impact of the crisis, with a -85% drop in the average number of ...