Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, said that the Red Sea crisis is unlikely to end soon, and shipping companies are still forced to avoid routes through the Suez Canal.

He said that a political agreement and mission to protect cargo ships could lead to a resolution within six months. The EU’s active support of a multinational naval alliance to protect commercial traffic in the region is very important.

Rolf Habben Jansen said that ships take an extra two to three weeks to reroute around Africa, decreasing the amount of the twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). Purchasing more containers to increase the TEU capacity and using more fuel to speed up the ships can be a way to mitigate the problem of transportation time, while it will bring higher costs to customers.