KARACHI: Disruption of shipping trade has increased due to Israeli aggression. According to latest reports Red Sea shipping volume has dropped by 55 percent y/y in 2024 QI and 64 percent in March 2024, so far equivalent of 2 percent of 2023 global trade.

About 2,900 ships have been diverted from Suez Canal since onset of disruptions in mid-December. Domestic trade and industry circles urged need for land transportation that is the only solution as Pakistan-Turkiye trade also disturbed. But Pakistani banks are still not ready to facilitate L/C trade between two countries as well as with Iran just to please American lobby but they are shy to confess openly and publicly.

How- ever, country is suffering badly due to this anti-state and anti-nation attitude of local banks, informed sources disclosed. Need for Road trans- portation is strongly de- manded by local entrepre- neurs who said it is needed badly to overcome our economic crisis but our banks are owned by un- scrupulous elements who are keenly interested to earn risk-free profits by loaning central and provin- cial governments at exor- bitant rate of 24 percent on daily basis. Key shipping routes in Red Sea, Black Sea and Panama Canal are simultaneously under threat, with far-reaching implications for inflation and food and energy security.

Recent attacks on commercial ves- sels in Red Sea have se- verely affected shipping through Suez Canal, adding to existing geopolitical and climate-related challenges facing global trade and supply chains. Red Sea crisis compounds ongoing disruptions in Black Sea due to war in Ukraine, which have resulted in shifts in oil and grain trade routes and altered established patterns. Additionally, Panama Canal, critical artery linking Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is confronting separate chal- lenge. Dwindling water levels have raised concerns about long-term resilience of global supply chains, underscoring the fragility of world’s trade infrastruc- ture; it was disclosed by UNCTAD report.