Since February 24 from the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine and the resulting Western sanctions caused many foreign companies to suspend crossings, Russian shipping trade dropped, adding further pressure on that of the country economyfreight data showed.
The world’s largest foreign container lines – including the top three MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and others such as Hapag Lloyd – have temporarily suspended cargo shipments to and from Russia, while several companies , of which home the furniture company IKEA has shut stores.
Food companies Nestlé, Mondelez, Procter & Gamble and Unilever suspended investments in Russia, but said it would continue to supply essential products.
Overall Russian import volumes for the week of March 2-8 fell 40% from the week of From February 16 to 22 before the invasion, according to data from supply chain tracking platform FourKites, which analyzed all modes of transport including air and sea freight as well as land using trucks.
the decrease has been in all industries with import volumes of chemicals, chemical products as well as oil and gas down 33% retail down 35% and consumer goods packaged together with food and drink down 57% over the same period, analysis from FourKites showed.
“Senders with cargo to destination for Russia asks: “What can I do? As major European carriers stopped calling Russian ports, importers with cargo to destination for Saint Petersburg and Novorossiysk faced a blocade of problems,” said Peter Sand, Chief analyst to air and ocean freight rate Xeneta benchmarking platform.
“While their cargoes are now scattered out in different ports all in the wrong place with the main (European) ports completely avoid handling containers bound for Russia.”
The Russian government noted on Thursday he had banned the export of 200 items including telecommedical, auto-agricultural, electrical and tech equipment until the end of 2022, in reprisals for Western sanctions on Moscow.
The number of container ships within 50 nautical miles of Russian ports fell nearly 30% as of March 7 to around 177 ships from over 250 on February 24, the analysis of the logistics platform project44 showed.
According to other data from predictive marine analytics firm Windward, container ships owned or operated by MSC, Maersk and CGA CGM made 1,244 calls to Russian ports in the past year and accounted for 28% of all container ship calls to Russian ports over this period.
Container ship made 4,184 calls to Russian ports in 2020, according to separate UNCTAD data.
Rolf Habben Jansen, Managing Director of Germany’s Hapag Lloyd, said the container line was still trying to deliver humanitarian goods, including food.
“We have to comply with punishments in place and as long as they’re here, I don’t thinkon will have the ability come back,” Jansen told a virtual news conference on Thusday.
The situation is also difficult in other areas involving Russia’s vital oil trade.
According to Windward’s analysis, 248 tankers reported their positions as heading towards Russia as of March 7. Of these, 149 were under the Russian flag and another 13 owned or operated by Russian affiliates.
This left 86 unaffiliated tankers with Russian companies, which compared with 125 foreign tankers were heading to Russian ports a month ago and 98 Russian-flagged tankers and 38 others were owned or operated by registered companies in Russia, showed the Windward analysis.
Insurance risks
Last week, British marine insurer West of England said they had taken their cover off for two container ships operated by Russian shipping group FESCO after the vessels were listed by the US Treasury as part of of broader penalties.
“In the freight sector, we see more and more shipping lines are suspending freight bookings to and from Russia,” said Antonia Panayides, shipping partner with Reed Smith law firm.
“The penalty regulations are not static and must be carefully considered.”
There are also emerging broader risks with Russian trade.
Some shipping companies still sailing in Russian ports such as Saint Petersburg are concerned about the circumstances in which the Russian authorities could arrest ships, says Marcus Baker, with leading insurance broker and risk Advisory Marsh.
“For example, if a ship inadvertently damages port infrastructure and needs to be boarded, there may be no guarantee that their insurance policies, while covering the loss, could provide financial safeguards to what could be a sanctioned entity,” he said.
“Furthermore, many non-Russian ports do not allow Russian ships to enter, which effectively stops both import and export from Russia. of any commodity, which could have potentially significant supply chain implications. »
