The vehicle industry in Israel is preparing to resume direct charging of vehicles to Israeli ports from East Asia via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea instead of Africa. This provides a ceasefire in Gaza and is investigating security stability in the region. Industry sources estimate that in the first stage, direct shipping to Israel will resume by Chinese shipping companies to transport vehicles, the first shipments may arrive in Israel via the Suez Canal in the coming months.
At the same time, the importers state that they have received an informal rating from Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE: Zim) that it can resume charging direct vehicles to Israel via the Suez Canal in the second half of the year. Zim is the largest car company to Israel on Asian roads. The company responded as “it currently does not have any advertisement on this topic.”
The direct shipping of vehicles was suspended to the Israeli ports in November 2023 after Houthi attacks on shipping and kidnapping the vehicle transport ship to the port of Hodeidah. As an alternative, all freight companies that transport vehicles have turned into a road that exceeds the Red Sea, Suez channel and bypassing Africa. Some companies have stopped visiting Israeli ports completely and emptying vehicles in European ports, where they arrived in Israel by shipping ship.
Africaing Africa added average 21 days to the time of vehicles from China, Japan and South Korea to Israel and increased shipping costs by tens of percent. Return to direct charging from East Asia can provide a competitive advantage for vehicle importers, who will be able to transport vehicles directly. This week, the European Union expands the authorization of the force of marine patrols operating in the Red Sea region until 2026.
Shipping companies “monitoring developments”
It is still unclear whether the vehicles are shipping to the Eilat port, which was previously the main import gateway from East Asia, will also resume, but no new vehicles have been discharged there for more than a year. A senior American military officer will arrive in Israel next month to discuss, among other things, the resumption of maritime transport to Eilat.
Sources in the vehicle industry say that the expectations related to the resumption of shipping to Israel via the Suez Canal are the result of “the international understanding of the scenes.” However, these understandings can change after negative developments in stability in the region. On Tuesday, a British cargo ship was damaged in the southern Red Sea. It is suspected that she was hit by a drone, although there is no official confirmation. In recent weeks, many large international shipping companies have announced that they decided not to resume direct shipping across the Red Sea at the present time and continue the longest shipping path around Africa. They say they are “monitoring developments.” To date, no non -Chinese shipping giants have no longer returned to the Red Sea.
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On February 12, a Drewry research survey was published, as most shipping companies estimated that traffic on Suez will resume at the end of the year. This month, the head of the Soyes channel, Osama Rabi, expressed a more optimistic view, with an estimate that the commercial traffic through the channel will increase near the end of March this year and return to the full size by the middle of the year, if the ceasefire in Gaza is being held.
This month, the first vehicle transfer company has passed since the Houthi attacks began via the Suez Canal. The ship, owned by a Chinese shipping company, transported about 4,300 cars from East Asia, stopped in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia before the follow -up of Türkiye, Italy and Spain. It is also expected that the transfer of containers to Israeli ports from East Asia will be resumed via the Suez Canal at the same time.
However, the sources in the shipping industry say that the decision of foreign companies to empty directly in Israel still depends largely on the insurance rates of marine insurance companies, which have increased significantly since the beginning of the war.
The Ministry of Transport in Israel said that the leading companies in shipping cars to Israel have not yet decided to take their ships across the Red Sea. As it comes to Israel, shipping companies are allowed to empty vehicles in the Eilat port or any other outlet, from the importer.
It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on February 20, 2025.
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