Mandarin exporters from Pakistan are facing soaring freight charges by shipping companies in the wake of Houthis’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea. A leading exporter from Sargodha stated: “Two shipping companies have withdrawn themselves from the region, while others have changed their routes to avert attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea, leading to an exorbitant hike in freight charges.”
The shipping lines are now operating around Africa instead of the Red Sea and Suez Canal to avoid attacks by Yemeni rebels and have begun charging up to $3000 per container more, while the detour has also increased the transition time from 25 35 days to 50 60 days, he says.
The shelf life of kinnow has already shrunk from 60 days to between 20 - 30 days due to ‘ageing’ of the variety, besides a couple of other reasons, and now the extra time to be consumed by ship liners will hurt the fruit quality, he fears. The fruit is being exported to UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Russia through the shipping companies. It is shipped to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by road.
Source: dawn.com