Red Sea Attacks to Affect PC Part Shipments to Europe

[TheLostSwede]

The recent attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea are affecting not only oil shipments, but also cargo ships from Asia to Europe. All major carriers such as CMA CGM, Cosco, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC and so forth are affected and all have delayed their shipments through the area. A coordinated security action called Operations Prosperity Guardian which includes over half a dozen nations so far, is getting ready to guide shipments through the affected area by Yemen, but it'll lead to slower shipments through the area.

TechPowerUp has already received reports from sources in Taiwan that their products are on some of these ships that are now stuck waiting for naval escorts through the area. However, it appears that there might be shortages of some computer components for the foreseeable future, alongside many other products that are being shipped this route and onwards via the Suez Canal. According to the BBC, it takes 25.5 days on average to ship goods from Taiwan to the Netherlands via the Red Sea and Suez Canal whereas the only alternative route via the Cape of Good Hope takes 34 days and adds extra fuel costs. Regardless of the extra shipping times and costs, it appears some shipping companies are willing to take the longer route to avoid being attacked. This is likely to have a knock on effect on prices for a lot of consumer goods in Europe, so if you haven't bought that hardware you've been holding off getting, now might be as good a time as any.



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[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Kin pirate's.

Why is this funny? ?

I am quite surprised no country has yet ended the terrorist tourism on that hijacked vessel already in pirated custody.

More needs to be done or more Will be pirated.


And wow this I think is very un worthy of a tech forum, how the heck can this Not go politically, I took time and effort to sanitise and neutralise this post, too edgy.

 

[cst1992]

This is why piracy is bad.

 

[Chaitanya]

Everyone is screwing over Europe.
While watching news yesterday, additional time quoted for trip across Cape of Good Hope is 2 weeks compared to Suez Canal route(and that seem to be for England as its BP sources quoted by them).

 

[Easo]

That was my first idea the moment attacked ship count started rising and became obvious when companies started pulling out.
Not like I can do anything to influence it... -.-

I guess at least 3 months, if not more.

 

[R0H1T]

This is way beyond everyone's pay grade here, let the "warring states" handle this ideally with minimum bloodshed.

 

[Kapone33]

Unfortunately all of this points to one place that is currently influencing most of these new Developments on the World front.

 

[bug]

And we've grown so impatient that waiting 10 extra days for something that is not even essential is considered borderline unacceptable. And to think 100 years ago you'd have to wait months to ship something from India to Europe...

 

[Fourstaff]

And we've grown so impatient that waiting 10 extra days for something that is not even essential is considered borderline unacceptable. And to think 100 years ago you'd have to wait months to ship something from India to Europe...

Not entirely sure what you are going at? Our current lifestyle is designed with a cadence measured in minutes (train and flights for example), 10 days would be a massive disruption.

 

[R0H1T]

It's not that big of a deal if you count that a lot of shipments can be sent through air as well, though a lot more expensive. The bigger issue is probably the extra ~7k kms would would cost a lot more in terms of fuel & from memory that stretch from India to South Africa, through Madagascar, is also infested with pirates!

 

[neatfeatguy]

Not entirely sure what you are going at? Our current lifestyle is designed with a cadence measured in minutes (train and flights for example), 10 days would be a massive disruption.

True. Remember all the stupidity that followed the forced lock downs and how everything was hampered. Any kind of disruption causes havoc and chaos.

 

[RayneYoruka]

In this day and age.. omg

 

[Squared]

This is an old problem. The New World was discovered while Columbus was trying to find a new trade route that didn't go all the way around the Cape of Good Hope and didn't require travel through the Middle East.

 

[Readlight]

Everyone is screwing over Europe.
While watching news yesterday, additional time quoted for trip across Cape of Good Hope is 2 weeks compared to Suez Canal route(and that seem to be for England as its BP sources quoted by them).

Tell them to protest in their native county.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I found it funny because it is literally government's job to protect maritime routes... finally they are paying attention.

 

[SoundsLucid]

Why on earth do they ship to NL!
Would a distribustion center in Greece or italy not make more sense - surely train by land is faster than shipping?

 

[bug]

Why on earth do they ship to NL!
Would a distribustion center in Greece or italy not make more sense - surely train by land is faster than shipping?

That's where the big ports are. Greece has a few also, but the infrastructure to move goods is just terrible (not necessarily in Greece, but some of the Balkan countries you'd need to cross).
But that's inconsequential here, the delay would be the same if you offloaded in Greece.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Why on earth do they ship to NL!
Would a distribustion center in Greece or italy not make more sense - surely train by land is faster than shipping?

You're not working in the industry, are you?
Rotterdam is one the largest port in Europe, followed by Andwerp Zeebrugge in Belgium, Hamburg in Germany and Amsterdam.
Italy is on 8th place and Greece on 14th.

List of busiest ports in Europe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Most of it actually has to do with taxes and free economic zones, which not all countries have at their major ports.

The Netherlands have been the leading port nation in Europe for a very long time and many companies have local offices established here as well, since this is where their goods arrive and is then shipped onwards in Europe.

Using your kind of logic, why are Asian manufacturers shipping to New York, when they can ship to Los Angeles?

 

[R-T-B]

Not entirely sure what you are going at? Our current lifestyle is designed with a cadence measured in minutes (train and flights for example), 10 days would be a massive disruption.

I think you found his point.

In this day and age.. omg

Piracy off Somalia never stopped. We just stopped going there, mostly. Unfortunately Yemen's instability is to blame here and there isn't really a route around it other than the Cape of Good Hope, which takes A LOT longer.

Would a distribustion center in Greece or italy not make more sense - surely train by land is faster than shipping?

Name a train route that goes directly from China to Europe. The closest thing is the Trans Siberian and I doubt even it would help.

I'm sure you could do it with a bunch of cargo transfers but it gets messy fast. Plus as said, there are tax reasons its done the way it is.

 

[lexluthermiester]

10 days would be a massive disruption.

Not really. Inconvenient yes, not massive.

 

[Kapone33]

Not really. Inconvenient yes, not massive.

Unfortunately the Cape of Good Hope is one of the most dangerous Waters on Earth. Only supplanted by Cape Horn.

 

[ThrashZone]

I found it funny because it is literally government's job to protect maritime routes... finally they are paying attention.

Hi,
Yep the US gets very little credit for protecting our routes.

 

[mplayerMuPDF]

Hi,
Yep the US gets very little credit for protecting our routes.

The US historically and today as well has been/is also (indirectly) involved in creating the instability in the first place that leads to a need for protection, so I do not think that other countries should need to express their gratefulness for the benevolence of Washington. You cannot create long term security in a region with just military might and threats of violence/retaliation.

 

[Vayra86]

This is why piracy is bad.

This is why we need the Pirate Bay so we can just play any game without DRM and mod it to suit our hardware.

No upgrades required, Piracy good.

The US historically and today as well has been/is also (indirectly) involved in creating the instability in the first place that leads to a need for protection, so I do not think that other countries should need to express their gratefulness for the benevolence of Washington. You cannot create long term security in a region with just military might and threats of violence/retaliation.

You cannot create long term security without it either. Also, define long term. 10 years? 20? 100?

Good luck on that little dilemma. Human history is one long string of conflicts over power and influence over the other. We ended up where we are now through a history of redrawn borders, warfare, ever since tribal society. At some point we figured out that security means deterrence. And the realization that this is the highest achievable thing and closest to peace. We then moved to fighting each other in proxy wars and trade conflicts not on our own soil, but in places that lack said deterrence.

And we're now regressing back to war. If it isn't the US keeping 'the balance' with a strong arm, its the Russian, or the Iranian, or the Chinese. Pick your poison. You're on a side, whether you like it or not, as a European I'll say every day I prefer the 'corrupt' US keeping that balance over any other alternative, yes even Europe isn't fit for that task just yet.

 

[Kapone33]

The US historically and today as well has been/is also (indirectly) involved in creating the instability in the first place that leads to a need for protection, so I do not think that other countries should need to express their gratefulness for the benevolence of Washington. You cannot create long term security in a region with just military might and threats of violence/retaliation.

What happened after France killed their King?