East Mediterranean Hubs Suffer As Red Sea Crisis Persists

The re-routing of mainline vessels via the Cape of Good Hope has resulted in a steep downturn in vessel call capacity across East and Central Mediterranean hub ports, but West Mediterranean ports have shown more resilience.

This is according to the latest research report released by maritime think tank Drewry on Wednesday.

Drewry said, with no resolution to the security situation in the Red Sea, carriers were continuing to divert mainline vessels trading between Asia and Europe via the Cape of Good Hope.

After an initial period of disruption when scheduled arrival dates were missed due to the longer diversion route, port calls in West Mediterranean have largely stabilised, said Drewry.

Although container throughput fell 1.4% annually at Algeciras in January 2024, volumes were up 11% at both Valencia and Barcelona for the same period.

By contrast, East and Central Mediterranean hubs recorded steep reductions in average weekly vessel capacity during the first quarter of 2024, ranging from an 18% decline at Gioia Tauro to a 31% drop at Piraeus, Drewry noted.

In January 2024, volumes handled at Piraeus Container Terminal were down 13% while traffic at Suez Canal Container Terminal fell 3%.

Meanwhile, the average weekly capacity of container vessel calls at the main Red Sea ports has dropped steeply. While a number of carriers continue to service Jeddah and King Abdullah, they have substituted mainline vessel calls with smaller shuttle services from Mediterranean hubs that provide a dedicated link to the northern Red Sea, Drewry said.

Dammam picked up some additional calls in the first quarter on 2024 but the high percentage growth rate is partially due to the relatively low volume base in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Sri Lankan port of Colombo is emerging as a key transhipment hub, offering carriers the opportunity to tranship cargo between services diverting via the Cape and services to/from the Middle East, said Drewry.

The port recorded an 18% upturn in average weekly vessel capacity in the first quarter of 2021, while year-to-date throughput has increased 30% as at end February 2024.