To our valued customers,
The Gaza conflict’s impact on shipping has well and truly extended beyond the local region after Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (above) today closed the country’s ports to vessels operated by Israeli carrier Zim.
The Zim Europe was initially scheduled to arrive at Port Klang on 5 December but suffered a 21.5-day delay having travelled round the Cape of Good Hope as it was diverted from its original passage through Suez.
“The Port Klang Authority has been ordered to assist logistics companies, importers, exporters and ships handling cargo that has been affected,” Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook explained this morning, which will have implications for Zim customers in Europe, North America and Africa.
The question facing executives at Zim’s headquarters in Haifa will be whether these service rotations can be redesigned, or whether it will have to pull the services altogether.
There is also the potential for conflagration – if other countries follow Malaysia’s lead, Indonesia, Brunei, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan would be top of the list.
We will continue to keep you updated with further news once available.
