Copenhagen - When the Red Sea crisis emerged and vessels began sailing around Africa, the Asia-Europe supply chain became 7-14 days longer, depending on port-pair configurations. When supply chains become longer, it effectively also means that most shippers increase their inventories by that amount, as the cargo on the vessels is de facto an inventory.

In 2024, demand on Asia-Europe grew by 8.5%. However, when accounting for the transit times, and hence inventory increase of 7-14 days, Asia-Europe growth drops to 4.5%-6.5% (depending on the lengthening of the . . .